The New England Patriots and The Indianapolis Colts have had a heated rivalry since Peyton Manning, then quarterback for the Colts, and Tom Brady first squared off on September 30th, 2001. Sure, both teams had been involved in a number of games prior but this game is typically looked at as the moment when they were considered on an equal playing field. Over the following years the New England Patriots highhandedly defeated the Colts nine times, only losing five games one of which did not involve Tom Brady. During the 2012 season a surgically repaired Peyton Manning “moved on” to the Denver Broncos  as the Indianapolis Colts who had  allegedly tanked the 2011 season, got their future NFL all star quarterback  Andrew Luck with the number one draft pick.

Certainly Andrew Luck would turn the tide for the Colts with his youth and exceptional skills doing what Manning could never do, consistently beat the New England Patriots. Since Luck’s arrival the Patriots have tacked on another four (Dominant) wins over the Colts. Most recently the Patriots won the AFC Championship in 2014, beating the Colts 45-7. 45-7? Certainly the New England Patriots must have cheated to have gained such a lopsided win over a team which had just defeated the Manning led Denver Broncos in the divisional round one week earlier. Enter the three ring circus known as Deflategate where several balls on both sides of the field had lost significant air pressure, but due to the NFL ‘s investigative ineptitude and unsubstantiated reports, everything fell on New England’s shoulders. After all how could The New England Patriots have destroyed the Colts in such a dominant fashion? All anybody needs to see is the three games played prior and the resulting scores. On November 18th, 2012 The Patriots won 59-24, on January 11th 2014 the Patriots won 43-22 and on November 16th, 2014 the Patriots defeated the Colts 42-20. The Patriots scored over 4o points in every one of those games.  No amount of depleted ball pressure can force the idea that the Colts defense is good enough to stop Tom Brady and the Patriot’s offense.

It’s sad and painfully obvious that the Indianapolis Colts are a desperate team run by meddling Coach and a drug addicted billionaire who promised their fan base the moon when they brought Andrew Luck into the fold. They have managed some epic wins but they always seem to get destroyed by Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots. If you can’t beat them on the field, how else can you defeat them? With the help of the Baltimore Ravens, the Indianapolis Colts seemingly conspired with the NFL to set up a sting operation to take down New England. The Colts brought the air pressure situation to the NFL and got Roger Goodell and company rolling with the Defaltegate scandal. All of this of course led to the findings that the Patriots and most importantly, Tom Brady were more probable than not generally aware of deflated footballs. Indianapolis of course, was never cited for their deflated footballs, as that was quickly dismissed and brushed to the side. The Colts were finally able to do off the field what they could not accomplish on the green, destroy Tom Brady, stomp on the man’s legacy and drag the 2014 Super Bowl champions through the mud. Seemingly Jim Irsay’s organization had finally gotten some measure of revenge against their ever dominant rivals.

What the Indianapolis Colts didn’t realize is that much like on the field, Tom Brady would prevail.  After an off season’s worth of tattling and over punishment sent the Patriots way, finally it all comes down to the one place that the Colts seem to always be at a disadvantage, the football field. This Sunday the New England Patriots will be playing at Lucas Oil Stadium against Andrew Luck and his newest offensive weapons Running Back Frank Gore and Wide Receiver Andre Johnson. Will their new veterans be enough to stop Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Dion Lewis and Julian Edelman? Will Indianapolis finally get their revenge where it counts most, on the field? Yes, their new toys, with the help of established wide receiver T.Y. Hilton may cause some trouble for the Patriots but overall the Colts have done little to beef up their defense which, as noted earlier, has given up 40+ points in the last four games against the Patriots.

Even though they will never admit it outwardly, this is a game the New England Patriots want to use in order to epitomize what their 2015 season is all about. They don’t want to just destroy the Colts they want to embarrass them and make an example of them to the entire NFL. Revenge is a strong emotion, one that both the Patriots and their fans carry with them as they enter enemy territory this Sunday. Does revenge in fact leave a vacancy once the act of retribution has been administered? Luckily for New England and all of Patriot nation, football is a sixteen game season and the Indianapolis Colts are merely game five.

Will we see New England pull out all the stops and sacrifice everything to send a message to their opponents this Sunday? More than likely it will be business as usual because recent history indicates that is all it needs to be. The Patriots want revenge, but basing your entire season on a week six game is something akin to the Colts hanging a banner for being a 2014 AFC Championship finalist. Its short sighted and clearly means nothing in the hunt for a Lombardi trophy. That being said, It’s quite possible that the next banner that the Colts will place in their rafters will read: Lucas Oil Stadium home of the 2015 Indianapolis Massacre.