With the Patriots flair for the dramatic this season it is fitting that the team learned that they will play the Indianapolis Colts in Saturday's divisional playoff game. The Colts brought a little drama of their own into their wildcard playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, staging one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history to overcome a 28 point deficit to edge the Chief 45-44.
Jeff Howe of The Boston Herald echoes that sentiment and writes that both teams have taken a similar path. Howe writes that both teams are mentally strong competitors, and the Colts have all the respect in the world for Brady and the Patriots operation, possibly because these divisional round opponents have been so alike this season.
Paul Kenyon of The Providence Journal writes that the Colts are also familiar with the 'next-man-up' motto that has been a staple throughout the Patriots season. With the loss of Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne, T.Y Hilton has stepped into the spotlight and shined.
"T.Y. Hilton has stepped up for them big time and given them a ton of production. He is, as we saw, a go-to guy. He had a couple hundred yards (Saturday), but he's shown up all year," said Bill Belichick.
Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe notes that Bill Belichick shared his thoughts on the Colts Sunday night during a conference call with the media.
"Yesterday's game was about as good as it gets. To be that far behind in the third quarter, it didn't look too good for them, and all of a sudden in a hurry you could feel them coming back, or at least I could…I think they're a very explosive and dangerous team," said Belichick.
Field Yates of ESPNBoston.com and Erik Frenz of The Boston Globe both offer scouting reports on the Indianapolis Colts.
Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com offers three things to know about Saturday's Indianapolis Colts-New England Patriots divisional round playoff game at Gillette Stadium.
Tom Brady is 10-4 against the Colts, including 2-1 in the postseason. However, he has only faced Chuck Pagano's Colts once, a dominant showing for New England, which won 59-24 and scored in all three phases of the game. Zuri Berry of Boston.com takes a look back at that game.
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Steve Buckley](http://bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/stevebuckley/2014/01/buckleyfoeworthyof_fearing) of The Boston Herald writes that Indianapolis is a foe worthy of fearing.
In an opposing view Mark Daniels of The Boston Herald takes a look at the ascent of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck.
Gary Dzen of Boston.com writes that rather than focus on preparing for one or more of New England's possible opponents, the Patriots "spent a lot of time on ourselves" during their playoff bye week, quarterback Tom Brady told WEEI Monday morning during his interview on Dennis & Callahan.
In her Patriots notebook, Karen Guregian of The Boston Herald offers her regular season awards.
On the lighter side of things check out Julian Edelman's smoothie making talents in a video posted on YouTube.
