When the NFL released the 2009 schedule back in April, I remember hearing people complain that the Patriots had to play the Colts again this year.

In the words of the noted philosopher Cleveland Brown, that’s just crazy.

Some folks just don’t know how good they have it. Sure, the Colts are good, so good that recently they’ve almost completely turned the tables on New England’s initial dominance of the rivalry. And, yeah, Peyton Manning’s pre-snap theatrics can be a bit annoying to watch, like Nomar Garciaparra in the batter’s box.

If they had any sense of history, though, they’d be drinking in every gesture from the big, goofy pitchman, and every scowl from the most reviled man in the state of Indiana, Bill Belichick.

What we see tonight isn’t going to last much longer.

The Colts/Patriots rivalry is the best of all football rivalries now, but in five to 10 years, it will be like watching the Celtics play the Pistons is now — just another game.

The only rivalries that endure in football are division rivalries — Cowboys/Redskins, Chiefs/Raiders, Bears/Packers. They’ve been going at it twice a year for at least 40 years. At times, they’ve each had their run as the best rivalry in the NFL. Right now, not so much. Those games might get a few diehards whipped into a frenzy, but they are rarely must-see-TV like tonight’s game.

The truly great rivalries in football are short but oh so sweet. If the Raiders and Steelers of the 1970s played each other today, Roger Goodell’s head would explode because there would be so much carnage. The 1980s didn’t have the same decade-defining rivalry, but Giants/Niners and Bears/Niners had their moments. The 1990s was all about Cowboys/Niners.  

Colts/Patriots is the best rivalry in the NFL and has been for the last six years, basically since they played each other in the 2003 AFC championship, then faced off in a classic season opener the following year. During that time, they’ve been two of the best three teams in the league, along with the Steelers.

They’ve met in the playoffs three times. I will argue to my death that, injected with truth serum, the three-Super Bowl veterans on the Patriots such as Tom Brady, Troy Brown and Tedy Bruschi would admit that their 20-3 win over the Colts on Jan. 16, 2005 was their most satisfying non-Super Bowl win ever, maybe even more fulfilling than one or two of the bowls. It was the ultimate statement game for the franchise, one where everyone in silver-and-blue walked away feeling that the “Patriot Way” had been validated against an over-hyped Colts team.

That is when the hate element of the rivalry bloomed. But Indianapolis still needed to prove it could truly match New England on the field to take it to a historic level.

New England is 1-4 against Indianapolis since that snowy playoff game. The Colts earned their place, had their 2004 Red Sox moment, if you will, when they came from way back to beat the Pats in the 2006 AFC championship, then claimed their Lombardi Trophy. 

It’s interesting to note that the Steelers won their first ring of the decade earlier than the Colts, and they have almost as deep a playoff history with the Patriots (two conference championship games) as Indianapolis. If Pittsburgh goes makes it back-to-back Lombardis this year, they could lay claim to the “Team of the Decade” title New Englands seemed to have sewn up in 2005. 

Yet Steelers/Patriots, good as it is and could be this year, doesn’t resonate like Colts/Pats, and it’s because of the quarterbacks (no disrespect to the underrated Ben Roethlisberger). Colts/Pats will last as long as Manning and Brady are part of it. Even if their teams somehow maintain elite status after they retire, it won’t be the same.

It is ironic, however, that the rivalry between the quarterbacks revolves around a somewhat flawed premise. It started out with Brady being the blue collar quarterback, the guy that didn’t put up the big stats but made the most of what little he had to work with on offense and won. Manning was the commercial pitchman, the guy with all the talent around him who couldn’t win the big one, especially against Belichick.

The world has turned upside down in the last few years. Now Brady is the glamour boy with the record-breaking season and the pedestrian playoff numbers (12 TDs, nine INTs in his last seven postseason games), while Manning is the guy carrying his overachieving team to a perfect season so far. Now, it is Manning who owns Belichick (9 TDs, 4 INTs and four wins in the last five games against New England).

That is what makes tonight so special. It is the most compelling game the NFL has to offer, and like Celtics/Lakers in the 1980s, these two teams will be tied to each other when the history of the NFL in this decade is written.

While tonight’s result won’t completely change the narrative involving the two teams and their quarterbacks, it will be a big part of the story. This game could decide home field in the AFC, which could ultimately decide who gets a shot at adding to their ring collection and their legacy.

For the first four decades of their existence, the Patriots were virtually irrelevant in the historic scope of the NFL. Tonight, they and the Colts are at the center of the football universe. 

That isn’t something to complain about. It’s something to savor.