The Patriots will travel to Indianapolis on Sunday night to face the Colts under the AFC Finalist banner they helped put in the rafters of Lucas Oil Stadium, but the AFC Championship game rematch isn’t the major selling point for the game.
It’s the aftermath of that game that’s providing the big angle this time around, particularly the Colts’ role in touching off the eight-month saga known as Deflategate. The Patriots’ scalding start to the season has led to talk of a revenge tour after Tom Brady’s suspension was overturned in federal court and the prominent place the Colts played in the accusations have some saying that this will be more than just another game for the Patriots.
The people saying that haven’t come from inside the Patriots, of course. Both history and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’s comments on Tuesday suggest that’s unlikely to change.
“I really don’t see it any different than each of the other games we’ve played,” McDaniels said in a conference call. “I think it’s a very good team. It’s a road game in a hostile environment, in a place that’s tough to play on a Sunday night. They’ve got new people, new personnel. But they want to beat us and we want to beat them. It’s not very complicated. But that’s the same thing it is every single week that you play in this league.”
McDaniels went on from there, but didn’t say anything that veered from the message of this week being business as usual. Given how well that approach has worked for the Patriots in recent matchups with the Colts, there’s not much reason to try something different.