Patriots Crush Colts and Advance to Super Bowl Against Seahawks

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Throughout the first half of Sunday’s A.F.C. championship game between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, the Gillette Stadium crowd roared its approval whenever the referee announced that one of the Patriots’ offensive linemen was eligible for pass-catching duties.

A week earlier, in the Patriots’ divisional round playoff victory over Baltimore, Coach Bill Belichick’s crafty choreography of eligible and ineligible linemen had been labeled “deceptive” by Ravens Coach John Harbaugh.

Most of the rest of the N.F.L. took it as another example of Belichick’s sly genius.

In the third quarter Sunday, the Patriots had a 10-point lead on a plucky Colts team. Before a third-down play, once again, left tackle Nate Solder reported as an eligible receiver. By then, a monotony had set in about the announcements. Even the home crowd barely noticed..

The Colts certainly did not seem to pay attention. They left Solder uncovered when he ran into the left flat and caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from

Nate Solder, a left tackle, scoring on a 16-yard reception from Tom Brady to extend the Patriots’ lead to 24-7 with just over 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Credit Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

As the 320-pound Solder was rumbling toward the end zone, Brady was jumping up and down behind the play like a child whose new backyard toy had surprisingly worked as planned. On the sideline, even Belichick cracked the thinnest of smiles.

Solder’s touchdown became the symbolic tipping point in the Patriots’ 45-7 thrashing of the Colts, a victory that will send New England to the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 1 in Arizona.

It will be New England’s eighth trip to the Super Bowl, tying the Patriots with Dallas and Pittsburgh for most appearances. Brady will be the first quarterback to start six Super Bowls.

Four weeks into the 2014 regular season, when the Patriots were 2-2, there was a chorus across the nation wondering if Brady’s Patriots were getting old all at once.

But Brady and Belichick, whose sixth conference championship together set an N.F.L. record for a coach-and-quarterback tandem, proved on Sunday that lengthy experience does not always mean over the hill.

Asked about the touchdown pass to Solder, Brady noted that the Patriots had used a wide receiver option for a touchdown pass a week earlier.

What’s that about teaching an old dog new tricks?

Brady said, “Maybe we’ve got more tricks up our sleeve.”

In the matchup with Seattle, Brady and Belichick will have their third chance to win a fourth Super Bowl. Their last Super Bowl victory together was 10 years ago. In between, there were two losses to the Giants.

Defenders tackling Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in the second half. Brady will be making his sixth Super Bowl appearance. Credit Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Not usually introspective after games, Brady was willing on Sunday to measure the historical significance of another trip to the Super Bowl.

“We’ve got to win one to kind of leave our legacy,” he said.

As for the touchdown pass to Solder, Brady could not stop grinning as he recreated it.

“We thought it would work,” Brady said. “Nate did a good job in tough, rainy conditions. And then he ran past two guys to get it in there.”

Solder, who played tight end before he was converted to tackle, knew that the play was in Sunday’s playbook but said he was never confident he would get his chance.

“There’s no way to know if the situation will come up for that,” he said.

What did he think when he heard Brady call it in the huddle?

“I thought it was a good call,” Solder said. “I was ready for it. It’s all a blur for me now, but I knew I could catch it.”

After two consecutive losses in the A.F.C. championship game, New England, which was making its fourth successive appearance in the conference championship, made easy work of the Colts.

Andrew Luck of the Colts during the second half on Sunday. Luck completed 12 of 33 passes and threw two interceptions. Credit Matt Slocum/Associated Press

After Solder’s touchdown, the Patriots scored a touchdown on each of their next three possessions. Brady, who was starting his ninth conference championship game, threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski. Running back LeGarrette Blount burst through the middle of the line for 13 yards, tumbling into the end zone. Early in the fourth quarter, Blount charged over the goal line from 2 yards away for a 45-7 New England lead. For Blount, who had 148 rushing yards, it was his third rushing touchdown of the game.

It was the second straight year the Patriots crushed Indianapolis in the postseason. New England defeated the Colts, 43-22, in a divisional round game in 2014. The Patriots’ record at home in the playoffs is now 17-4.

Brady was not sensational Sunday, but he clearly outdueled his younger counterpart, the 25-year-old Andrew Luck, who has been viewed as Brady’s heir apparent. Luck looked rattled from the start, and his throws were frequently off line. Luck completed just 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards. Brady completed 23 of 35 passes for 226 yards.

After the game, Luck did not admit to being nervous but conceded he had made a series of early mistakes.

Very little in Sunday’s game went right for the Colts. Before the game was five minutes old, they had lost the football on a muffed punt that led to an easy Patriots touchdown.

It did not take the Patriots long to establish the early offensive theme of the game. They attacked the Colts with short passes — many to the versatile Julian Edelman — and when they had the Indianapolis linebackers backing up in coverage, they gave the ball to Blount, who slammed into the middle of the Colts’ line.

The mix of pass and run soon had the Patriots ahead, 14-0, and they were driving for a third score until Brady made perhaps his only truly poor throw of the night, a toss into double coverage that was intercepted. Luck used the second-quarter turnover to drive the Colts 93 yards for their only points of the game, a 1-yard run by Zurlon Tipton.

It was a high-water mark for Indianapolis. On the opening drive of the second half, Solder slipped off the line of scrimmage in the Patriots’ latest bit of skulduggery.

In the game’s final minutes, with the crowd chanting Brady’s name, Belichick and his quarterback embraced near midfield. It was Belichick’s 21st playoff victory, an N.F.L. record. Brady already had the postseason record for most wins by a starting quarterback, but on Sunday he increased it to 20.

Later, in the glow of the Patriots’ locker room, Brady was still smiling.

“Hopefully, our best is yet to come,” he said.

Via:NYtimes