New England Patriots Cannot Take the Indianapolis Colts Lightly

Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

In the New England region, Sunday night’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts is already being heralded as the “Deflategate Revenge” game. New England Patriots fans are salivating at the thought of rematch with the Colts whose general manager Ryan Grigson set-up the sting operation at the AFC Championship Game last year and was the likely unnamed source who leaked information to the Indianapolis media at halftime.

However, New England owner Robert Kraft is not stepping into a steel cage match with Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay to settle to this feud. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is not throwing balls at a target with Grigson in the dunk tank. In reality, most players in both locker rooms are likely not even concerned with anything deflategate related.

The Patriots are looking to build upon their win in Dallas with another strong performance on both sides of the ball more than any kind of revenge. The Colts players are focusing on trying to avenge their three humiliating losses to New England in the last two seasons including back-to-back playoff exits.

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While the vitriol is limited to fanbases and media, both teams are focused more on the matchups on the field. While the talk radio host in New England wonder whether Brady will try to hit 60 points and stay in the game to run up the score, the Colts media and fans are sharpening their rapier wit with terms like “Cheatriots” and “Belicheat”.

While history has shown that the Patriots have feasted on the Colts defense and shut down Andrew Luck and the explosive offense in recent years, both teams have made numerous changes on both sides of the ball and the teams are both trending upwards: New England is undefeated in 2015 and Indianapolis is on a three game winning streak.

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Rather than waste time talking about the past or making sweeping inclusive statements about both teams, instead there is much to dig into when looking at how the 2015 Indianapolis Colts can potentially pull out a win against the Patriots at home in a primetime matchup with an extra three days to prepare (due to having last played on Thursday night).

Next: Indianapolis Defense