AFC Championship Game Capsule
INDIANAPOLIS (13-5) at NEW ENGLAND (13-4)
Sunday, 6:40 p.m. EST, CBS
OPENING LINE - Patriots by 7
RECORD VS. SPREAD - Indianapolis 13-5, New England 9-8
SERIES RECORD - Patriots lead 49-29
LAST MEETING - Patriots beat Colts 42-20, Nov. 16, 2014
LAST WEEK - Colts beat Broncos 24-13; Patriots beat Ravens 35-31
AP PRO32 RANKING - Colts No. 8, Patriots No. 2
COLTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (3), RUSH (22), PASS (1).
COLTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (11), RUSH (18), PASS (12).
PATRIOTS OFFENSE - OVERALL (11), RUSH (18), PASS (9).
PATRIOTS DEFENSE - OVERALL (13), RUSH (9), PASS (17).
STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES - Colts seeking third Super Bowl berth in nine years, won championship in 2006 season, lost in 2009 season. Patriots going for sixth Super Bowl appearance in 14 years, lost previous two to New York Giants after winning three after 2001, 2003, 2004 seasons. ... Patriots won past two games between teams, 43-22 in divisional round last year then 42-20 in regular season on Nov. 16. ... Colts QB Andrew Luck led NFL with 40 TD passes then threw two in division-round win over Denver. Patriots QB Tom Brady was tied for fifth with 33 TD passes then threw three in divisional win. ... Patriots tied for second in turnover differential at plus-12, Colts tied for 22nd at minus-5. ... Colts 1-3 in postseason vs. Patriots, winning only with 38-34 comeback in AFC championship game in January 2007. ... Luck 0-3 vs. Patriots, only team he's played more than once and not beaten. Colts have been outscored 144-66 in those games. ... Luck also trying to pull off rare feat of beating Peyton Manning and Brady in back-to-back weeks and is first player in NFL history to pass for at least 250 yards in each of first five playoff games. ... Kicker Adam Vinatieri will break Jerry Rice's record for most postseason games played when he competes in No. 30 Sunday. Vinatieri also can break tie with Tony Fritsch for most consecutive postseason games with field goal (13), doing it against franchise he started with. ... RB Daniel "Boom" Herron needs five receptions to break franchise record for single postseason. Herron has 18 in two games. Joseph Addai had 22 in four games in 2006. ... WR Reggie Wayne needs 36 yards receiving to move past Cliff Branch (1,289) for No. 3 on NFL's postseason list and one TD catch to join four others with 10 TD catches in playoffs, third all-time. ... Indianapolis should start same offensive line combination for third straight week, something that hasn't happened since first month of season. ... LB D'Qwell Jackson led AFC with 140 tackles. LB Jonathan Newsome led AFC rookies with 6ˆ½ sacks. Patriots 16-4 at home in playoffs, but 5-3 in past eight postseason games at Gillette Stadium. ... Colts had five players chosen for Pro Bowl. ... Patriots beat Ravens in an AFC divisional game, becoming first team to win postseason game after trailing twice by 14 points. ... Brady overtook Joe Montana for most postseason TD passes after throwing three against Ravens. Brady has 46, one more than Montana. Brady also has most postseason wins by quarterback (19), completions and attempts and needs 10 yards passing to surpass Manning for most in postseason. ... Bill Belichick needs one win to reach 21 and pass Tom Landry with most in postseason. ... Backup safety Duron Harmon had interception against Baltimore's Joe Flacco with just over 90 seconds left to stop potential go-ahead drive. ... Julian Edelman led Patriots with 92 receptions this season and added eight against Ravens. Also threw 51-yard TD pass to Danny Amendola vs. Baltimore, first pass of six-year career. ... Rob Gronkowski led all TEs with 1,124 yards receiving and had seven catches, one TD vs. Ravens. ... In past two games vs. Colts, LeGarrette Blount ran for 166 yards and four TDs in last year's divisional game and Jonas Gray ran for 201 yards and four TDs this season. Patriots rushed for just 14 yards against Ravens. ... Patriots had five players chosen for Pro Bowl.
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