Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts knocked off Peyton Manning and AFC's No. 2 Denver Broncos on the road last week. Now they face Tom Brady and the No. 1 seeded New England Patriots in Foxborough Sunday.
On Wednesday, Luck, in his own understated way, said he was excited for a chance at another road win against a top AFC squad.
"I think there is a competitive spirit in all of us, that's, 'hey the harder it is the better, let's go try and make it happen,'" he said. "But we are just excited to play a really good Patriots team on the road. Maybe there's a little extra excitement because of that, but to be in the AFC Championship that is great. But we got to go out and win."
Winning in New England during the playoffs is a daunting task. The Patriots are 16-4 at home all-time in the postseason -- the second best record in NFL history (minimum 10 games).
Luck is 0-3 in his career against Brady's Patriots, including a Week 11 42-20 bulldozing, and the Colts quarterback has a 6-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio in those games. In last season's Divisional Round loss in New England Luck threw four picks.
Still, the Colts enter Sunday's showdown on a 7-1 streak over the past eight games behind Luck's dazzling play. The quarterback is looking to become just the fourth signal caller to defeat Manning and Brady in consecutive games. If he does, Luck will have earned Indy a Super Bowl bid.
As the saying goes, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast recaps every Divisional Round game and ranks the remaining quarterbacks still standing. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
