The game all NFL fans will have their eye on this week is the Sunday night game when the New England Patriots will take on the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. This game will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2015 AFC Championship game, and the whole Deflategate saga began, so one would think that New England would come out with a little extra fire in their gut. But Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said, in an interview on Boston radio station WEEI, that there is no extra motivation going into this game just because it the Patriots are playing the Colts.
In part Brady said, “We’re gonna do what we do every week. We’re going to prepare as hard as we can, like we always do, and we’re going to try to win a game. We’re gonna try to score every time we touch the ball, just like every other time in every other game. It’s no different this week than it was last week or the week before. The better the execution is, the more points we’ll score. Obviously as an offense, your objective is to go out there and score points. It’s not to run out there, run a few plays and punt. We’re gonna go out there and try to play our very best. That’s what it’s going to take.”
Even if not every single Patriots player truly feels the same, this is the correct attitude to have before Sunday’s game. The Patriots should take the same approach against the Colts. If they want to improve to 5-0 on the season, they need to take the same approach to this game that they always do. Bill Belichick’s team always prepares to play their best each and every week and this game against the Colts will be no different. There this a possibility that the Patriots try to run up the score if they have the opportunity to do so, but that would be more of a statement to all of the other 31 teams in the league, and not to get revenge on the Colts.
There is a great chance that New England wins Sunday night, but it won’t be because of any extra motivation due to Deflategate. If the Patriots defeat the Colts, it will be because they are the better team this season and they ended up proving it on Sunday. This season the Patriots are averaging 423.8 points per game (first) on offense and they are scoring 37.3 points per game (second). The Colts are averaging 334.8 yards of offense per game (23rd) and they are scoring 19.8 points per game (24th). New England is allowing 342.5 yards per game (12th) and 19.0 points per game (tied for seventh). Indy is allowing 398.8 yards per game (28th) and 22.6 points per game (tied for 16th).
Neither team has really played great competition thus far this season, with New England’s four opponents having a 9-11 record and Indianapolis’ five opponents posting a collective 9-14 record so far this season. But the Patriots have looked like the better team in 2015, and barring anything unforeseen happening during the week, the Patriots know Brady will be under center come Sunday. Colts quarterback Andrew Luck has missed the last two games with a right shoulder injury, and while it’s being reported he will probably play against the Patriots, that is far from certain.
New England will most likely handily defeat the Colts, as they have done consistently during Luck’s time in Indy. But the Patriots absolutely annihilating Indy would probably mean more to their fans than to anyone in the locker room. To the Patriots players and coaches Sunday’s game is a chance to get another win against an AFC opponent and improve to 5-0. Nothing more, nothing less and that’s how it should be.
