Colts–Patriots rivalry

The 1967 football season for both the NFL and the American Football League opened with the agreement for the pending merger of the two leagues already in place. On August 13, 1967, the Boston Patriots hosted the Baltimore Colts at Harvard Stadium. The Colts won 33–3 as Tom Matte scored in the first quarter and the Colts got a safety when Jon Morris blew a snap and the ball flew out of the endzone.


The Patriots and Colts met for the first time in NFL regular-season play at Harvard Stadium in week three of the 1970 season. The Colts jumped to a 7–0 lead in the first quarter, but the Patriots closed to a 7–6 fourth-quarter score on two Gino Cappelletti field goals. On following series, Johnny Unitas, who relieved starter Earl Morrall, finished off the Patriots with a 55-yard touchdown pass and a 14–6 Colts win.^[19]


Battling the Colts for the AFC East title, the Patriots traveled to Baltimore with a 6–3 record (including a 27–13 Colts victory in Foxborough in week one of the season). The Patriots picked off Bert Jones twice, leading to a 21–14 win. The win accelerated a six-game winning streak for the Patriots and their first playoff berth since 1963.


The Colts had been AFC East champs the previous three seasons, but were minus many of their best players due to trades and injuries, including Bert Jones and starting cornerbacks Nelson Munsey and Norm Thompson. They were 0–2 and 18-point underdogs when they traveled to Foxboro to play the Patriots on Monday Night Football.^[20] It was a sloppy game for three quarters, with New England leading 13-7 heading into the final period. As it started raining hard, Baltimore came to life behind running back Joe Washington, making his first start with the team after an off-season trade from San Diego. First he threw a 54-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option to Roger Carr. Later he caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Bill Troup. After Troup and Carr connected for a 67-yard score, the Colts led 27–13 with eight minutes to play.^[21] The Patriots came back to score twice on runs by Steve Grogan and Sam Cunningham sandwiched around a successful onside kick to tie the game with 1:32 left. But Washington fielded the bouncing ensuing kickoff and darted 90 yards across the shimmering rain-soaked field for the touchdown to give Baltimore the stunning 34–27 win, causing Howard Cosell to exclaim, "What a football game this turned out to be!"^[22]


The Patriots lost to the Baltimore Colts 12–7 in Baltimore; it turned out to be the final meeting between the Patriots and the Baltimore Colts, as the team moved to Indianapolis for 1984. It was also New England's last game in Baltimore until the Baltimore Ravens debuted in 1996.


In their first meeting at Indianapolis, the Patriots made their first trip to the Hoosier Dome and defeated the Colts 50–17. The win was the second for new coach Raymond Berry, a former Colts receiver.


The 4–5 Colts hosted the 0–9 Patriots and the two teams lit up the Hoosier Dome scoreboard in an overtime thriller. The game lead tied or changed 10 times and the Patriots scored twice off Jeff George interceptions. Patriots kicker Charlie Baumann accounted for the Patriots' final nine points of a 37–34 overtime triumph that came amid illness to coach Dick McPherson.^[23]


Peyton Manning made his second career trip to Foxborough and led the Colts to a 28–7 halftime lead. The Patriots, behind Drew Bledsoe, scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth off Colt turnovers and the game-winning Adam Vinatieri field goal came in the final thirty seconds.^[24]


The Colts hosted the Patriots, holding a 10–2 record to New England's 7–5. The Colts earned a 20–15 win despite 344 passing yards from Drew Bledsoe. It was the first for Manning over New England after three straight losses and the first win over the Patriots for the Manning family (Peyton's dad Archie was 0–3 lifetime against the Patriots with the New Orleans Saints and Houston Oilers.)^[25]


Week three of the 2001 season, Tom Brady made his first NFL start when the 2–0 Colts came to Foxborough. The Colts were defeated 44–13 as Peyton Manning threw three interceptions, two returned for touchdowns.^[26] On October 21, New England traveled to the RCA Dome and won 38–17, where Patriot David Patten became the first player since Walter Payton in 1979 to score touchdowns three separate ways: throwing a 60-yard pass to Troy Brown, a 91-yard reception from Brady, and a rushing score.^[27]


The first meeting since divisional realignment put the Colts into the now-second year AFC South, the two clubs sported 9–2 records, the latest into a season two teams with such records had met. The Patriots erupted to a 31–10 lead in the third quarter. Peyton Manning rallied the Colts back, throwing three touchdowns to tie the game, however the Patriots clawed back to a 38–34 lead. The Colts drove to the Patriots' 2-yard line in the final minute, only to be stopped on four downs.^[28]


Heading into the Monday Night fight between the Colts (7–0) and the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Patriots (4–3), QB Peyton Manning was winless against New England in Foxborough (0–7). The Colts beat the Patriots, 40–21. In the game's closing minutes, veteran QB Doug Flutie replaced Brady, and Colts president Bill Polian was heard in the press box yelling "break his leg!"^[29]


The Colts and Patriots met in their first AFC Championship game since 2003, a game in which New England won en route to their third Super Bowl Championship in four years. The Patriots and Colts were both unable to earn a first-round bye at the end of the 2006 season, the first time in the series history that they had met in the playoffs after both played in the Wild Card round. New England was coming off of wins over the Jets and Chargers, and finished the 2006 season with a 12–4 record. The Colts were also 12–4, but finished ahead of the Patriots by virtue of their head-to-head win over them during the regular season in Foxborough. The Colts were coming off wins over the Chiefs and Ravens. In this game, the Patriots ran out to a 21–3 lead in the second quarter, but the Colts would pull off a fierce comeback to win 38–34, the largest comeback win in conference championship history at the time.^[30] With 1 minute remaining in the game, Joseph Addai rushed in for a touchdown from 3 yards out to give the Colts the lead. The game was sealed with an interception by Marlin Jackson with 14 seconds remaining, sending the Colts to the Super Bowl, which they won 29–17 over the Chicago Bears. The 15-point comeback by Indianapolis was the largest in conference championship history until it was broken 8 years later in the 2014 NFC Championship game, in which the Seahawks came back from 16 points down to beat the Packers 28–22 in overtime.^[31]


The 8–0 Patriots faced the 7–0 Colts in the RCA Dome, the latest in a season that two undefeated teams had ever faced off. The Patriots had scored over 34 points in every game but the Colts defense stifled the Patriots' attack and Indianapolis clawed to a 20–10 lead in the fourth. But a 58-yard Tom Brady bomb to Randy Moss was caught at the Colts' 3-yard line, leading to a Wes Welker touchdown catch. After stopping Manning and forcing a punt, a strong kick return by Welker set up a three-play touchdown drive highlighted by a 32-yard catch by Donté Stallworth and a Kevin Faulk touchdown catch. Manning was hit and threw the ball into the hands of Rosevelt Colvin on the next Colts drive and the Patriots ran out the remaining clock for the 24–20 win. This win was number 9 in the Patriots' 16–0 regular season.


The undefeated Indianapolis Colts again played the 6-2 New England Patriots in what was Tom Brady's first start at Lucas Oil Stadium. With 4:12 left in the fourth quarter, the Patriots had pulled away 34–21. A pass interference call against New England set up a four-yard touchdown run by Colts RB Joseph Addai with 2:23 left. Leading 34–28, but backed up on their own 28-yard-line and needing to reach the 30-yard-line for a first down, Patriots coach Bill Belichick elected to go for it on 4th and 2 instead of punting. Brady completed a pass to halfback Kevin Faulk, but Faulk appeared not to make a clean catch and was immediately driven backwards. Officials determined that Faulk had not secured possession of the ball until he was short of the first down marker, resulting in a turnover on downs, and giving Manning and the Colts the ball on the Patriots' own 29-yard line with two minutes remaining. After three plays, Manning completed a one-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne, making the score even at 34–34 with 13 seconds left. Kicker Matt Stover, filling in for Adam Vinatieri, made the extra point to make the score 35-34 and secured the victory for Indianapolis.


Belichick obliquely criticized the ball-spot on the play in his Monday morning press conference. Nevertheless, his decision was highly criticized by the media.^[32][33] Jarrett Bell of USA Today claimed the coach had "outsmarted himself,"^[34] while Bill Simmons, ESPN.com writer and Patriots fan, asked "What the fuck was Belichick thinking" and compared the entire ordeal to "riding in the passenger seat of a friend's car and watching helplessly as he plows over a pedestrian".^[35]


The 6-3 Colts traveled to New England for the first time since 2006 and New England won its first home game against Indianapolis since a playoff game in 2004. Manning and his Colts were down by 17 in the 4th quarter and came back to reduce the New England lead to 31–28 with a few minutes left. Manning led the drive down the field, but a terrible play call would occur, as had happened in the previous year's matchup. With the Colts already in great field goal range (24-yard line of New England), Manning was intercepted by James Sanders with 32 seconds left; it was Manning's third pick of the game and the 31-28 New England win put the Patriots to 8-2 while the Colts fell to second in the AFC South with a 6–4 record.^[36] The game turned out to be the last game ever between the Patriots and Manning as a member of the Colts; he would miss the 2011 season due to neck surgery and was released; he then signed with the Denver Broncos and faced the Patriots in his first season there.


Because the division-rival Texans won the AFC South with the Patriots winning the AFC East, there was no regular season meeting in 2013 between both teams for the first time since 2002, the first year of the NFL's current division alignment. Both teams won division titles in 2013 and with a stunning comeback win over Kansas City combined with San Diego's playoff win over Cincinnati, the Colts met the Patriots in the AFC Divisional round on January 11, 2014. The Patriots and Colts played a tight game until the Patriots scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 43–22. LeGarrette Blount erupted to 166 rushing yards and four touchdowns while Tom Brady reached 6,000 postseason passing yards with 198. Andrew Luck threw for 331 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted four times for the second consecutive game, twice by Alfonzo Dennard.^[37] The Patriots would go on to lose the AFC Championship Game 26–16 against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.


The Patriots defeated the Colts 45–7 in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium on January 18, 2015, following Indianapolis playoff wins over Cincinnati and Denver and New England's divisional round win over Baltimore.^[38] With the victory the Patriots moved on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX to win their fourth championship.^[39] New England's victory has been controversial, as the Patriots were alleged to have deliberately or negligently underinflated footballs used in the game, which has been dubbed "Deflategate". The controversy was addressed by Bill Belichick in a snap press conference a week before Super Bowl XLIX and took a bizarre turn when Adam Schefter reported a league employee was fired after this game for stealing footballs and illegally selling them.


The 9–4 Patriots traveled to Indianapolis to take on the 7–6 Colts in the first meeting between the two franchises in the post-Tom Brady era. With former Colts franchise QB Andrew Luck now retired as well, this was the first meeting since 1997 to not feature Brady, Luck, or Peyton Manning. With both teams starting new QBs in Carson Wentz for the Colts and Mac Jones for the Patriots, Indianapolis stormed out to a 17–0 halftime lead behind stout defensive play and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown by the Colts' E. J. Speed. However, aided by a Colts missed field goal and crucial interception by Wentz in the second half, Jones and the Patriots stormed back to make it a 20–17 game before Colts' running back Jonathan Taylor sealed the game for good with a 67-yard touchdown run in the final three minutes of the game and the Colts would win 27–17. Taylor, who came into the game leading the league in rushing, finished with 29 carries for 170 yards and his 17th rushing touchdown of the year, which gave him the Colts' single-season franchise record for rushing touchdowns. Jones would complete 26 of 45 pass attempts for 299 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. Wentz, meanwhile, completed only 5 of 12 pass attempts for 57 yards, one touchdown, and an interception.^[40] This was the Colts' first win over the Patriots since 2009, after going 0–8 against New England in the 2010s.^[41]