Turning Up the Heat

FOXBORO, Mass. — The Indianapolis Colts had come so far in the NFL playoffs without making a mistake.

Then, tight end Marcus Pollard opened his mouth.

“If we keep playing like this,” he said after the Colts’ 38-31 divisional playoff victory at Kansas City last Sunday, “then you can just go ahead and hand us the rings.”

If the New England Patriots were looking for kindling to stoke their emotional flames before today’s AFC championship game against the Colts, Pollard’s words worked better than gas-soaked rags.

“You always want to know the mind-set of your opponent,” said Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, whose team has won 13 consecutive games. “If that happens to be his mind-set, then you have 53 guys that will do everything possible to change it. So, ultimately, it comes down to the way we are playing on the field, but I don’t think you will hear that come out of our locker room.”

Thing is, Pollard is probably right. If the Colts keep playing the way they have in postseason victories over the Denver Broncos and Chiefs, any team will be hard-pressed to keep them out of the Super Bowl.

Indianapolis rolled up 913 yards of total offense in those games, never punted and averaged 39.5 points. The 1987 Cleveland Browns were the only NFL team to have scored at least 30 in a conference championship game and lost.

Then again, the Patriots beat the Colts in a 38-34 shootout in November, a game that was decided with a goal-line stand by New England in the final minute.

“We gave up 38 points the last time we played these guys, and we don’t plan on doing that again,” Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy said. “I think if we do that, we won’t win. But our defense has a lot of confidence.”

So does New England’s. The matchup of the game today could be the cerebral showdown between Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning and New England Coach Bill Belichick.

Belichick, a defensive mastermind, and his defensive coordinator, Romeo Crennel, have created a beast on that side of the ball. The Patriots have given up a franchise-low 14.9 points a game, best in the league this season, and have surrendered only one touchdown in their last six home games. That’s 74 of 75 drives by opponents that have been stopped short of the Gillette Stadium end zones.

Can the Colts change that? They have a good chance, considering they are 8-1 on the road this season.

“As good as they’ve been on the road, we’ve been just as good at home,” said Patriot linebacker Tedy Bruschi, whose team is 9-0 at Foxboro. “Something has got to give. Those questions will be answered [today] because, when you get two teams that are playing as well as they are and we are, a great home team and a great away team, it’s going to be fun for the fans to watch.”

Both teams are going to have to cope with weather that could turn bitterly cold. The temperature was 4 degrees at kickoff for the Patriots’ game against Tennessee last Saturday night, the coldest game in New England history. Forecasters have predicted a warming trend today with the possibility of snow and a high of 30 degrees.

The Patriots braced for the weather by working out in their practice “bubble” Wednesday with the heat turned off, which caused the inside temperature to drop to 20 degrees. They practiced outside Thursday when the temperature was 6.

The Colts, who won on an unseasonably warm afternoon at Kansas City last Sunday, practiced all this week in the RCA Dome. The only time they practiced outside was to give kicker Mike Vanderjagt some work in the elements.

Seven times in NFL history, a dome team has played an outdoor road game for the conference title. Every time, the dome team has lost.

When asked Friday how the weather might change the game, Belichick said it might alter things but neither team would have an advantage because of it.

“I think the teams, at this point, have enough experience, and everybody is playoff-hardened,” he said.

He later added, “The ball is not going to go as far if the weather is cold, we all know that. That’s just the way it is.”

The Colts shouldn’t be too concerned about the cold. They’ll have benches that blow hot air, propane-powered fans that blow hot air ... and, as the Patriots have learned, a tight end who blows hot air too.