By Scott Benson

Colts President Bill Polian was all over the news this week.

Probably because was reportedly forced by the NFL to apologize for shoving a Jets functionary in a disagreement earlier this month over loudspeakers (“you kids turn that infernal music DOWN!”), which led everybody to spend the following days reminiscing about what a first-class dickhead Polian really is.

Old friend Tom E Curran, former PJ beat man, got the ball rolling with his nbcsports.com column on Friday, in which he reported that the Pats had appealed to the league to ensure the safety of their employees when the Colts come to town on November 5th.

Hoo boy. This was, no doubt, retribution for Polian recently throwing his two cents into the league-wide debate over the condition of the Gillette Stadium turf. As we know, Polian’s got one of those Commissioner Gordon-style phones on his desk – the kind with no keypad or rotary dial – that patches him directly to the NFL’s complaint desk. It’s the first thing he goes for (as opposed to, say, a mirror) anytime one of his poorly-constructed, fatally-flawed teams comes up short.

Which is to say often.

The Pats have other fish to fry over the next two weeks, but Curran and Michael Felger have amusingly set the stage for the next matchup between two of the league’s most bitter rivals. Polian may have one of the league’s least impressive jewelry collections, but in the Land of Miserable Assholes, he is king.

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Looks like the Pats will be a tad thin on the offensive line today, as both Russ Hochstein (knee) and Nick Kaczur (shoulder) will be sidelined. I swear Steve Foley will be back playing again before Kaczur is, and he got shot like thirty times. Making matters worse, Daniel Graham will also be among the missing with his ankle injury. I can’t help but wonder if these aches and pains will prevent the Pats from running the ball with the same effectiveness they displayed in Week One.

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If the Patriots run their record to 5-1 today, they will be off to their second best start under Bill Belichick, trailing only their perfect 6-0 start in 2004.

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The weather is expected to be iffy at best today, with about a 50/50 chance of rain at game time (with chances increasing later). The Bills, as you know, play on a FieldTurf surface – what happens to those rubber pellets when they get wet? Don’t you get improved traction, like with radials?

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It was kind of nice to see the Pats receivers rally behind maligned rookie Chad Jackson in a Herald article this week. Troy Brown, in particular, countered the local media’s notion of an immature, out of control Jackson with this quote:

“He’s a hard-working guy,” Brown said. “He’s always in the weight room or running his routes. He’s trying to do the right thing to take care of his body now. He’s realizing that’s how you stay on the field, by taking care of your body.”

Cbssportsline.com claims Jackson will start alongside Doug Gabriel this afternoon. Don’t ask me how the hell they know.

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Mike Reiss reports this morning that the Pats have worked out secondary swingman Derrick Strait, formerly of the Jets.

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