The New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts were involved in more than a few heavyweight fights in the 2000s, with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning trading blows in some of the era’s most memorable games.
The rivalry between the two teams fizzled when Manning signed with the Denver Broncos prior to the 2012 season, but the flames were reignited when the Colts blew the whistle on Brady and the Patriots for under-inflating footballs during the 2014 AFC Championship Game.
While the talk around every Patriots-Colts game seems to center on the rivalry, Deflategate and now, of course, Josh McDaniels’ decision to spurn Indianapolis and return as Patriots offensive coordinator, the “rivalry” certainly isn’t all it’s been cooked up to be.
Matt Hasselback, who played backup quarterback for the Colts from 2013-15, explained how the competition between the two teams is less like Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees, and more like when Duke basketball plays any team that isn’t North Carolina. One side views the battle as the be-all and end-all, while the other side just sees it as another game.
“When you’re in Indy, they look at it as a big rival, but when you’re in the Boston area, the Colts are looked at as another team,” Hasselbeck told ESPN’s Mike Reiss and Mike Wells. “It reminds of (Boston College). and Notre Dame when I played at B.C. We would get up for Notre Dame, and Notre Dame didn’t think anything of us. They thought USC was their rival.”
The two teams will renew their “rivalry” Thursday night at Gillette Stadium, but it hasn’t been much of a contest ever since Manning departed. Quarterback Andrew Luck is 0-4 in his career against the Pats.
