by Scott Kacsmar

Fresh off an exciting win over Denver, the Colts head to New England with their franchise quarterback enjoying the best season of his career. He will try to improve on last January's four-interception disaster and earn his first win against the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady-led Patriots.

Did I just copy and paste someone's article from ten years ago? No, but the exact same words could have been used for the 2004 AFC Divisional matchup, when the Peyton Manning-led Colts played the Patriots for the second year in a row in the playoffs, both games won by New England and its dominant defense. (In case you are curious, here's the FO preview for that one, from the early days of the site.) While the NFL has changed so much in the last decade, this particular rivalry basically remains the same. Both teams have a star quarterback, but the Patriots have the coaching advantage and a better-rounded roster capable of adapting to any game plan.

We all know how great the Patriots are at home, where Brady is 103-17 (.858) as a starter in his career. New England earned this year's No. 1 seed thanks in part to one of its most impressive road wins in years in Week 11, beating the Colts 42-20 on Sunday Night Football behind an unexpected performance from running back Jonas Gray (201 rushing yards and four touchdowns). Now that the venue switches to Gillette Stadium, how can Indianapolis change the script?

Everyone has to learn from past mistakes. Andrew Luck threw seven interceptions in his first two games in Foxboro, but at home in Week 11 against a better New England secondary he only suffered one pick on a tipped ball. He also had an interception dropped in the fourth quarter while behind by 22 points, but he must protect the ball this week. Since 2001 the Patriots are 76-3 (.962) at home when winning the turnover battle, including a meaningless loss in Week 17 to the Bills.

Fortunately, the Luck-era Colts have done a great job of learning from past matchups. Since 2012 the Colts are 12-0 in same-season rematches: 9-0 in the AFC South and 3-0 in the playoffs. One could argue that that record is not as impressive as it sounds. The AFC South has been really bad in that time. In those three playoff wins, the Colts needed a 28-point comeback to beat Kansas City; the Bengals had Andy Dalton and didn't have any receivers or pass rush; and Peyton Manning was struggling with a torn quad on Sunday.

There is also this playoff fact: since 2001 the Patriots are 10-0 against new playoff opponents, but only 9-8 in rematches from the regular season. Since 2005 the Patriots are just 4-8 in playoff rematches, with wins over Eric Mangini's Jets, Philip Rivers playing on a torn ACL, the Tim Tebow-led Broncos, and a Houston team that faded down the stretch. So that's not impressive either. We have seen teams make dramatic turnarounds against New England before, such as the 2010 Jets turning a 45-3 December loss into a 28-21 playoff upset. The 2007 Giants went from allowing 38 points at home in Week 17 to just 14 points in Super Bowl XLII.

The Colts can give New England a much better challenge this time, but the path to victory likely requires the kind of team that Chuck Pagano has tried, but rarely succeeded, to lead onto the field. My first advice to Pagano is to defer if he wins the coin toss, because that would take the Patriots out of their comfort zone. Last postseason the Colts chose to receive and trailed 7-0 after 79 seconds.

Getting behind in Foxboro is a death sentence. Since 2001, only three teams have won in New England after trailing in the second half. Who was the last team to pull that off? It was Baltimore in the 2012 AFC Championship Game. Overall, the Patriots are 87-0 at home since 2001 when leading by at least eight points at any time in the game.

No pressure, Indy.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the Football Outsiders stats, they are explained at the bottom of the page. Scroll down or click this link. Please remember that all stats represent regular season only, except for weighted DVOA and anything else specifically noted. All game charting for these two teams is now complete; any game charting data that appears with a asterisk appears courtesy of the ESPN Stats & Information Group. This preview has two different week-to-week charts for each team, one for offense and one for defense. Because defensive DVOA is opposite of offensive DVOA, the defensive charts are flipped upside-down; thus, the higher dots still represent better games.

Indianapolis at New England

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WHEN THE COLTS HAVE THE BALL

Last week the Colts seemed to follow my advice, ignoring the run as Luck dropped back on each of the first 11 offensive plays. Soon they realized Denver's run defense was not the impenetrable force the stats suggested and helped Luck out with 26 carries. This week I think the Colts need to run the ball from spread sets early in the game so Luck does not start off thinking he has to be a one-man show. In last year's playoff loss, he threw a bad interception on the third play of the game and the Patriots only had to drive 2 yards for a touchdown. Offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton needs to take some of the pressure off Luck early with productive running plays.

In Week 11, the Colts had a pathetic night with 13 carries for 4 yards. One of their worst plays was Ahmad Bradshaw dropping a wide-open pass on second-and-12. Luck ended up leading the team in rushing with 15 yards. That obviously cannot happen again as the backs need to play better. Trent Richardson has been benched and Dan Herron has displayed tough running along with 18 catches in 19 targets in the postseason. Luck has fallen in love with that checkdown and should keep using Herron that way to complement the running game. A wrinkle like the read option could also open up the running lanes. Last postseason, Luck kept the ball on a fourth-and-1 and picked up 21 yards, but we have rarely ever seen that from the Colts. One area where the Colts may want to avoid calling runs is in the red zone. The Colts are 31st in red-zone rushing DVOA, while New England's defense is fifth. You may recall left tackle Anthony Castonzo catching a 1-yard touchdown from Luck in Week 11 on a tackle-eligible play.

Only the left side of the offensive line remains intact from Week 11 for the Colts, but this new unit has handled things very well in recent weeks, including holding Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware to a very quiet day in Denver. Chandler Jones did not play in the last meeting, but the Colts have already blocked better pass rushers. The bigger concern may be Jamie Collins attacking the inexperienced interior. Collins' breakout game came last postseason against the Colts.

The Colts have to keep third downs manageable. On third down, the offense is ranked sixth in DVOA while the New England defense ranks 21st. That sounds favorable, but it may become a necessity given the second-down matchup: the Colts are 27th, the Patriots fifth.

Darrelle Revis is a big advantage for the Patriots, though Luck will not fear testing him. T.Y. Hilton can get open against any defensive back, but the Patriots doubled and defended him very well in Week 11, holding him to three catches in seven targets for 24 yards. He was not stuck on Revis Island, as four of his targets came with Kyle Arrington in coverage. Obviously Hilton is the biggest threat the Colts have, but tight end Coby Fleener really stepped up last time with 144 yards, catching all seven of his targets and often beating cornerback Brandon Browner while lined up as a wideout. The Patriots rank 30th against tight ends in DVOA, but Fleener is the big-play receiver and Dwayne Allen is the guy to target in the red zone. The Patriots rank second against passes thrown over the middle.

It is not a highly-used personnel grouping for the Colts, but I would often attack with a single back and four receivers. The Colts used four wide receivers on four plays against the Patriots in Week 11, and Luck completed one pass for 13 yards along with a drop by Reggie Wayne, who continues to get a lot of playing time despite very little production. Revis covered Wayne in Week 11 but is unlikely to be assigned to him this week. I was mad at myself for omitting Hakeem Nicks from last week's preview, because he has been productive since Week 15. Earlier in the season Nicks never seemed to be on the same page as Luck, but he has been productive lately despite playing barely more than 20 snaps per game in the postseason. Rookie Donte Moncrief could make the big plays down the field that Luck found with LaVon Brazill last postseason in Foxboro. At this point Wayne is really the team's fourth-best wide receiver, so the Colts are doing themselves a little disservice by featuring him over Nicks, Moncrief, or Fleener. There is enough receiving talent here to spread the Patriots out and soften the Revis matchup.

Luck is the first quarterback to ever throw for at least 250 yards in each of his first five playoff games. Luck has thrown for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns in each of his three games against the Patriots, but the Colts have only scored 20 to 24 points while allowing at least 42 points each time. Aside from cutting down mistakes, what more can Luck do this week, and is it even realistic to expect more from the third-year quarterback? I know some people, including myself, fell into the trap last week of thinking Luck had to be brilliant to win in Denver, but his team showed up (and the Broncos did not). Do road teams often win big playoff games because of a virtuoso passing performance? (Green Bay fans may also want to take note of this section.)

I dug into my quarterback database for the postseason trying to find winning performances that fit a specific set of criteria:

• The quarterback started and won in a true road game (no Super Bowls)
• The game had to be in the Divisional round or a conference championship (better competition, higher stakes)
• The quarterback had to throw for at least 250 yards and throw more touchdowns than interceptions
• The opponent had to score at least 20 points so that it wasn't just a case of dominant defense

Seventeen games fit that criteria, including Divisional wins from three recent Super Bowl runs. I included, if available, where the opponent ranked in DVOA on defense and pass defense for the season.

That is an interesting list with some really memorable games and moments. If we opened this up to regular-season games and looked at the Patriots in the Brady era, then we only find four such games that qualify, all engineered by the Manning brothers and Brett Favre (with the 2008 Jets). Eli Manning's win in 2011 really did not impress until the fourth quarter, but that quarter deserves the highest praise when you consider this next piece of data.

Since 2001, New England has lost one home game after leading in the fourth quarter. Every other team has lost at least six. I looked at every fourth-quarter comeback (4QC) opportunity since 2001, including the playoffs. These are defined as games where the offense had possession in the fourth quarter, trailing by 1 to 8 points. Overtime is also included now with the new rules.

Opponents are 1-46 (.021) at 4QC opportunities in New England since 2001. That is absolutely absurd. Including Super Bowls on neutral fields, the record is 3-49 (.058), and Eli Manning has led all three wins. For reference, Brady (34-29) and Luck (9-8) have the two best 4QC opportunity records of any quarterback I have tracked (minimum 15 games). Despite the 43-22 final last postseason, Luck had a chance in that game with the score at 29-22. He was tripped on a scramble, but the referees missed the call. LeGarrette Blount then rushed for a 73-yard touchdown, Luck threw an interception, and it was quickly 43-22. See how things snowball?

So when Joe Flacco threw that bomb for an interception last Saturday, he became loss No. 46. That was a close call, just as it was earlier this season when the Jets failed to hit a long field goal in their 27-25 loss. Except for that time in 2011 when Eli led two late touchdown drives, every team has come up short in crunch time in Foxboro. Look at how the rest of the league compares in the last 14 years. I included splits for home, road, and neutral games. Note that there are some games excluded that resulted in a "no decision" where neither the offense nor defense get any credit because a return score or safety decided the game. I flipped the records around so that they are from the perspective of the team trying to hold the lead, so the Patriots are 46-1 at home instead of 1-46.

This can get confusing if you lose perspective, but here is how to read the table. The Patriots are 82-14 (.854) at holding off 4QC attempts, meaning teams trying to mount a 4QC against the Patriots are 14-82 (.146) since 2001. At home, the Patriots have held off 46 of 47 attempts, while on the road they prevent 75 percent (33-11) of 4QC attempts. They have the third-largest increase in winning percentage points from road to home (+0.229). Fitting for this week's game, the Colts have been the second-best team at holding off 4QC attempts. The strangest part may be how the Colts are the best at holding one-score leads on the road (41-5).

Having a great offense/quarterback that is capable of coming back and closing games definitely helps teams like the Patriots and Colts to have great records with one-score leads. However, this is still very much a credit to the defense first and foremost. There were only nine games where the Patriots surrendered the lead and the offense got it back (10 for the Colts). That's about average with the Saints having the most (15) and Bills having the fewest (three) such games.

This is not the week for the Colts to rely on a comeback. Interestingly enough, both the Indianapolis offense and New England defense rank 30th in first-quarter DVOA. The Colts still need a good start, because even with a quarterback that's great at comebacks, those comebacks just do not materialize in Foxboro. As nearly four dozen teams can attest, something always seems to go wrong.

WHEN THE PATRIOTS HAVE THE BALL

This feels like a case of "they know that we know we have run the ball all over this defense, so since we know they want to stop the run, they know we know we might pass the ball instead, so we know we might just run the ball anyway, even if they know that we know this."

Know what I'm saying?

After all, the Patriots could probably dig up Kevin Faulk this weekend and still gain 8 yards a pop on shotgun draws against the Colts. The mind games at hand here are fascinating, because it certainly looks like the Patriots can attack the Colts either with a run-heavy game or a pass-happy approach. Either way, Rob Gronkowski is a nightmare matchup whether he's blocking or dominating down the seam and on crossing routes, lined up out wide or killing it on slants in the red zone. The Colts cannot seriously put safety LaRon Landry in coverage here without getting killed. Indianapolis fared OK against Gronkowski in Week 11, but that's probably because he had five targets, his fewest since Week 4. He still caught four passes for 71 yards and showed how hard he is to tackle on a touchdown that was all him. He is a major problem for the Colts and I am not convinced cornerback Vontae Davis would be up for that matchup, especially in single coverage.

This matchup is all about New England's flexibility and an Indianapolis defense that is high in variance. For the last time this year (maybe), let me remind you that the 2014 Colts are the first defense in NFL history to allow a 500-yard passer (Ben Roethlisberger) and 200-yard rusher (Jonas Gray) in the same season. New England has scored at least 42 points in the last two meetings without Brady even playing that efficiently. He completed 13-of-25 passes for 198 yards last January and threw two interceptions in Week 11. In last year's playoff game Blount rushed for 166 yards and four touchdowns. He has eight carries for 7 yards in the two playoff games since. After the Colts made Gray the talk of the league, he has 20 carries for 80 yards and was a healthy scratch last week. Does anyone remember the Patriots ranked 31st in rushing DVOA heading into that Gray game?

If Brandon Bolden rushes for 160 yards and four touchdowns in this game, maybe Chuck Pagano should be fired in the locker room. This cannot happen for a third time, and I don't think it will. In these last two meetings, the Patriots had a bye week to prepare new wrinkles. In Week 11, the Patriots used Cameron Fleming as a sixth lineman dozens of times to power a running game that produced 250 yards on 40 carries. The Colts struggled with those big formations, as Cian Fahey detailed this week. That game was a big rushing outlier for both teams this season. The Colts just handled C.J. Anderson very well in Denver, holding him to many short gains that put the Broncos behind on down-and-distance.

New England's running game, ranked 14th in DVOA, has not been consistent and was flat-out abandoned last week, producing just 14 yards, the fewest by a winning team in postseason history. Yet there is hope for the Patriots to find rushing success again this week because of how varied this team is with its formations and personnel groupings. They scheme as well as anyone to get defenses out of position. I always hate charting a Patriots game because of how often they change the offense. You will see things like fullback James Develin lined up out wide. Now this week we have Pagano calling the league offices to inquire about the four-lineman sets the Patriots showed off against Baltimore last week. We might not see that trickery again, but it is part of the mind games the Patriots play with teams.

While the Colts will likely sell out to stop the run, you still have to worry about Brady. This is a bad matchup for Indianapolis because of the way these teams are built. The Colts lack a dominant pass rusher. Rookie Jonathan Newsome notched another sack in Denver for a big forced fumble, but that's because no one even blocked him. The Patriots have been sound with their protection after deciding on this current offensive line configuration, which still rarely missed a beat after center Bryan Stork went down with injury last week.

In Week 11, Brady was under pressure seven times in the first half and it had a desired impact, as he went 10-of-19 for 84 yards and two interceptions.* Five of those pressures were helped by the Patriots using play action and trying to hit big plays. The Colts rushed at least five defenders on 53.3 percent of Brady's dropbacks that night, which is a season-high for New England according to Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston. The Patriots adjusted and the Colts only registered one pressure in the second half while Brady completed 9-of-11 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns with one drop. It's pressure or bust for this defense, but they have to blitz to get that pressure. The Colts rush more than five defenders on 45 percent of plays, which is higher than the league average (31 percent), but they allow 6.7 yards per play when they do that (league average: 6.4 yards per play).*

Brady is the undisputed king of the dink-and-dunk passing game, which is bad news for a Colts defense that ranks sixth against deep passes (thrown more than 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage) and 30th against short passes. That's why Denver's game plan was so horrid last week with Manning going 2-of-14 on deep passes. He repeatedly missed against the strength of the defense: the outside corner coverage. Brady will dink and dunk defenses to death, but if the Colts can tackle the way they did in Denver (allowed just 78 yards after the catch) then they stand a chance of keeping this offense under 30.

The Colts have a solid cornerback trio with Davis, Greg Toler and Darius Butler, but the Patriots will look to work the middle of the field with Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. Even Danny Amendola has come on lately. Brandon LaFell has played well, but the Colts should be able to prevent him from having a big game. Baltimore may have won last week if they had had Indy's cornerback trio instead of Rashaan Melvin and company.

Maybe it's suicide and I probably say this every week with the Patriots, but I would consistently rush four and five defenders, shrink the field, flood the zones, and play press coverage on the outside, daring Brady to make those tough throws. This season he has only hit 11-of-55 passes thrown more than 20 yards down the field. Would you rather risk a big play that he hits 20 percent of the time, or give up the 6-yard hook route over and over?

The Colts cannot afford to get gashed on the ground again, but what's more likely to happen: another huge rushing performance or the good game from the future Hall of Fame quarterback? Forcing Brady into a mediocre game is still crucial to success on Sunday. In eight career AFC Championship games, Brady has thrown eight touchdowns and nine interceptions, with a 5-3 record.

In fact, the Indianapolis defense probably has to exceed the offense's performance to get this win. We saw in the previous section how rare it is for a quarterback to dominate in games like this, and it is certainly very difficult to outgun Brady in a shootout in Foxboro.

What are the prevailing trends in Brady's 17 home losses in 14 seasons? For starters, I removed two Week 17 losses (2005 Miami and 2014 Buffalo) where Brady did not play after the first half, so we are actually down to 15 losses in 14 years. Incredible.

See, this Sunday needs to be more about the defense stepping up again than Luck having an outstanding game. Aside from that epic 28-point comeback attempt against San Francisco in 2012, Brady's offense scored 21 points or fewer in every loss. A poor Brady passing performance was key in most of the games, as he averaged just 5.99 yards per attempt in those losses. He broke a 90.0 passer rating once and had seven games with multiple interceptions. We have QBR back to 2006, and Brady lost that battle seven out of nine times, with his average at 36.1 compared to 64.3 for the opposing quarterback. The Patriots were outgained in rushing in 13 of the games, but that's common for a trailing team. We know only the 2011 Giants, 2012 Cardinals, and 2012 Ravens came back in the second half to win. The Patriots averaged 3.95 yards per carry compared to 3.85 for the opponent. New England also lost the turnover battle 11 times.

Luck has to play better than last week, but this is more about Pagano's defense playing a physical game and rattling Brady into mistakes. I am not about to compare the return of defensive tackle Arthur Jones to that of Bob Sanders in 2006, but the Colts have played a lot of good defense since losing to the Patriots. We have seen unexpected runs carry teams through the playoffs before, but Sunday is the toughest task yet. Either the Colts have closed the gap or this rivalry is even more one-sided than it was a decade ago.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Both Indianapolis and New England rank in the top eight in special teams. If the Patriots have a big advantage, it is in punting. Pat McAfee had an All-Pro season, but Julian Edelman is an excellent punt returner. He got the Patriots rolling in 2012 when he returned a McAfee punt 68 yards for a touchdown. While Josh Cribbs has done a very good job as kick returner for the Colts, the punt returns have been disastrous, with Indianapolis ranking 31st in punt return value. Cribbs took several big hits in Denver on returns when he should have called for a fair catch, including a play that was initially ruled a fumble before being overturned.

Maybe this game will fuel the fire of the irrational Adam Vinatieri vs. Stephen Gostkowski debate. Does that even exist yet? Both kickers are great, though Vinatieri surprisingly missed a 44-yard kick in Denver last week. Belichick has already benefitted from the only two misses on do-or-die field goal attempts in championship games (Scott Norwood and Billy Cundiff), so a third would just be proof that he is a modern-day Faust.

Would Pagano dare risk a surprise onside kick on the road? The Colts went 3-for-3 at recovering McAfee's onside attempts this year (the element of surprise helped greatly), compared to the rest of the league's puny average: 6-of-56 (10.7 percent).

OUTLOOK

I know I said the same thing last week for Denver, but the Patriots are also clearly better than the Colts on both sides of the ball. Now it's just a matter of showing up and getting the job done. That was a real scare against Baltimore, but I think the offense gets more balanced and the defense defends the big plays much better. The Colts also won't have nearly as much rushing success as Gary Kubiak's offense did.

Luck has already played like a great quarterback, but I think the moment will still be a little too big for this Indianapolis team on Sunday evening. If this team had veterans like Ahmad Bradshaw and Robert Mathis available to shore up the running game and pass rush, then their chances would be better. The strengths of this roster just do not match up well with the Patriots, and it would be surprising to see the Colts surpass Baltimore's effort last week -- and Baltimore still lost.

Home teams favored by at least seven points in conference championships are 24-6 straight up, though New England suffered the last of those losses to Baltimore in 2012, and was a Lee Evans catch away from dropping two in a row. If the Colts can make it to the fourth quarter within striking distance, then there's always a chance, but more than ever they could use some luck to go along with Luck.

STATS EXPLAINED

DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) breaks down each play of the season and compares it to the NFL average based on situation and opponent. You'll find it explained further here. Since DVOA measures ability to score, a negative DVOA indicates a better defense and worse offense, and a positive DVOA indicates a better offense and worse defense.

Team DVOA numbers incorporate all plays; since passing is generally more efficient than rushing, the average for passing is actually above 0% while the average for rushing is below 0%.

SPECIAL TEAMS numbers are different; they represent value in points of extra field position gained compared to NFL average. Field goal rating represents points scored compared to average kicker at same distances. All special teams numbers are adjusted by weather and altitude; the total is then translated into DVOA so it can be compared to offense and defense. Those numbers are explained here.

Each team is listed with DVOA for offense and defense, total along with rush and pass, and rank among the 32 teams in parentheses. (If the DVOA values are difficult to understand, it is easy to just look at the ranks.) We also list red zone DVOA and WEIGHTED DVOA (WEI DVOA), which is based on a formula which drops the value of games early in the season to get a better idea of how teams are playing now (explained here).