The Colts have seen their last two seasons come to an end on the wrong side of blowout losses to the Patriots in the playoffs and they also took a thumping from New England during the 2014 regular season, leaving the unshakable impression that the Colts are going to need to find a way to beat the Patriots if they ever hope to win the Super Bowl.
Quarterback Andrew Luck thinks his team has a “realistic chance” of doing that after the 2015 season, although that doesn’t mean he’s looking at the team’s Week Six game as a referendum on how realistic those chances will be. The Colts will host the Patriots that Sunday night, but Luck says it is just one of 16 games.
“The Patriots are obviously the defending Super Bowl champs and our defending conference champs so there’s a high amount of respect for that team and what they do,” Luck said, via Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports and BritViewNFL.com. “They’re the kings of the league right now and everybody would like to de-throne them -- we’d like to de-throne them but you have to look at the season as 16 games. There are fans and media who will hype up certain games and circle them in red on the calendar but, as a player, you lose sight of what’s important if you get into that mode.”
People are circling that game in red for reasons beyond the Patriots’ status as defending champions. The Colts were involved in getting the ball rolling on Deflategate and the Week Six matchup would be quarterback Tom Brady’s first week back with the Patriots if his suspension is not altered by Commissioner Roger Goodell as a result of Brady’s recent appeal.
Those sidebars and the results of the last three games with the Patriots make it feel like a lot more than one of 16 games even if the result will count the same as the result of the Jaguars’ visit to Indy in Week Four.