The Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots take the field at 6:40 p.m. ET on Sunday for the NFL's AFC Championship Game in hopes to punch their ticket to Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1 in Arizona, but they'll have to endure tough matchups on the road to the biggest game of 2015.
The Colts are in the AFC title game for the first time since toppling the Jets en route to the Super Bowl in 2009 with Peyton Manning under center. The Patriots, meanwhile, are in this game for the fourth straight season, though their last two trips haven't been successful.
Indianapolis clinched the AFC South for the second consecutive year with an 11-5 record and defeated the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos to get this far.
New England, meanwhile, went 12-4 to win its sixth AFC East division crown in a row and toppled the Baltimore Ravens last week after sitting the first round out with a bye.
Here are three things to keep an eye on heading into Sunday's game at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough:
1) Tom Brady vs. Andrew Luck: Brady is a seasoned veteran and has gotten the best of his third-year counterpart in the last three meetings between these two teams.
Luck is 0-2 in his career against Brady in the regular season and threw four picks in a forgettable game in the only playoff clash between these two signal callers, a 43-22 victory for New England in last year's divisional round.
Brady, 37, was 373-for-582 (64.1 percent) in the 2014 regular season for 4,109 yards with 33 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Last week against Baltimore, Brady was 33 of 50 (66 percent) for 367 yards with three scores and one pick. Brady has 46 touchdowns and 23 interceptions through 27 career playoff games.
Luck, 25, led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes in the regular season while going 380-for-616 (61.7 percent) for 4,761 yards and he threw 16 interceptions. Luck was 27 of 43 (62.79 percent) for 265 yards with two scores and two picks against Denver last weekend.
Luck has more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9) in his postseason career through five games.
Will Luck finally get the better of Brady or will the seasoned veteran topple the young quarterback?
2) T.Y. Hilton vs. Darrelle Revis: By far the most intriguing matchup on the field Sunday will be between Colts top receiver Hilton and the Patriots top cornerback in Revis.
Revis will look to shut down Hilton while Luck will either have to try to ignore Revis or work with Hilton in finding ways to get open as Reggie Wayne remains a bit hobbled.
Quarterbacks that have targeted Revis this season have gone 35-of-79 (44.3 percent) for 545 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions -- two of which came from Revis himself. Revis has two picks in his playoff career through seven games.
Hilton has been the Colts best wideout this season as the third-year receiver amassed a team-best 1,345 yards on 82 catches and added seven touchdowns in the regular season.
Hilton was targeted eight times last week against the Broncos and hauled in four catches for 72 yards, but failed to find the end zone.
Hilton has 214 postseason receptions through 46 games (26 starts) for 3,289 yards and has found the end zone 19 times.
3) Rob Gronkowski vs. the Colts defense: Gronkowski has been Brady's go-to weapon over the years and is a big reason for the success of the Patriots.
The tight end had 82 receptions for 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season and then torched the Ravens for 108 yards on seven catches and caught a touchdown pass last week against Baltimore.
The Colts will have to keep an eye on Gronkowski on Sunday afternoon if they hope to rattle Brady, who has plenty of other weapons that Indianapolis needs to be aware of.
Both of these teams will strive to make it to the Super Bowl when the Patriots and Colts go head-to-head Sunday in New England.
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter @SportsWN and Like Us on Facebook
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.