New England Patriots face Indianapolis Colts in exciting encounter - NFL Preview
Two giants of the American Football Conference (AFC) clash on Sunday with the Indianapolis Colts facing off against the New England Patriots.
Both teams have delivered brilliant results in the past few weeks and will be looking to continue that momentum heading into the final games of the season.
The Patriots as always continue to perform remarkably as their offence faces little to no problems outscoring opponents to paper over the cracks in defence.
Led by quarterback Tom Brady the Patriots offence is currently ranked at the top of the National Football League (NFL) with 430.3 yards per game and is scoring an average of 33.2 points.
With such a strong offence particularly the combination of Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski it is no surprise to see that New England is once again on the path for an AFC East title which will become their fourth consecutive division title.
New England have overcome their inconsistent start to the season and the franchise is currently on a three-game winning run mostly thanks to the brilliant performance of their offensive unit which faces little problems in outscoring opponents even though
the Patriots defensive record this year is less than stellar.
Now the Patriots will face off against their big AFC rivals the Indianapolis Colts.
When Peyton Manning was around the Colts and Patriots were almost always involved in a high stakes clash.
Manning has moved on to the Denver Broncos, but his replacement Andrew Luck the number one overall pick this year has surprisingly put the franchise on course for a playoff appearance in his debut season.
Luck has been brilliant helping the Colts ramp up a 6-3 record, while also helping Colts star wide receiver Reggie Wayne regain his spark.
The young quarterback from Stanford has this year passed for a total of 2,631 yards and 10 touchdowns.
He will now have to deliver in one of the toughest fixtures for the Colts but Luck will be confident of delivering against the Patriots who boast one of the poorest defensive units in the NFL.
Luck speaking about his opponents in week 11 said:
"They have very good edge rushers on the sides. They do get to the quarterback and even if it's not a sack, they sort of harass, force a quarterback out of the pocket. So, that'll be a focus all week."
The young quarterback also will have his confidence boosted following praise from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick who said:
"He's gotten better each week. He does a real good job of avoiding the rush but also keeping his eyes downfield and not just pulling the ball down and trying to run or kind of panicking in the pocket. He has a lot of poise."
Both teams need a win and things are going to get exciting on Sunday.
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