The Patriots and Colts have a long history. It’s hard to imagine a generation of fans has grown up without realizing (maybe?) that the Colts and Patriots were AFC East rivals from 1971-2001. Of course, the Colts played in Baltimore through the 1983 season before packing up in the middle of the night and sneaking out of town to Indianapolis, where they began playing in 1984.
When the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, the Colts were a season removed from a stunning Super Bowl III loss to Joe Namath’s New York Jets, but they won five of the first six matchups against the Patriots, who then started to even things up in the latter half of that decade. The Patriots finished 9-11 against the Colts in the 1970s, but went to control the rivalry in every decade since … until recently.
New England was 13-6 vs. the Colts in the 1980s, 14-6 in the 1990s, 8-6 in the 2000s and 8-0 in the 2010s. Indianapolis is 2-1 vs. New England in the current decade. Overall, the Patriots lead the series, 53-31.
So while Bert Jones and the Sack Pack led the Colts for those early matchups – with Bill Belichick as a first-year NFL assistant under Ted Marchibroda in 1975 – the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady matchups certainly represent the hey-day of the rivalry.
Manning arrived in Indy in 1998 when Drew Bledsoe was still the Patriots quarterback and was just 2-4 against New England before Brady took over. In fact, Brady’s first career NFL start, on Sept. 30, 2001, was against Manning’s Colts.
Brady completed just 13 of 23 passes that day for 168 yards, but New England rushed for 177 yards and intercepted Manning three times, including twice for touchdowns in a 44-13 rout. Three weeks later, the Pats went to Indy and won in a game that saw wide receiver David Patton throw and rush for touchdowns while also catching a touchdown pass in a 38-17 Patriots win.
The Patriots went on to win their first Super Bowl that season and the Brady-Manning rivalry was on. Two years later, in 2003, the Patriots intercepted Manning four times – three by Ty Law – and Brady completed 22 of 37 passes for 237 yards as the Patriots advanced to Super Bowl XXXVIII with a 24-14 AFC Championship win over the Colts.
New England only hosted that game because of a dramatic regular season, 38-34 win at Indianapolis when it stopped the Colts four times from the goal line to preserve the win and essentially earn homefield for the playoff matchup.
The two teams met in a highly anticipated rematch to open the 2004 season, which New England won, 27-24, when Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt missed a 48-yard game-tying field goal in the final seconds. Again, the Colts flew to Foxborough for the postseason, and again, the Patriots prevailed, 20-3 on their way to back-to-back Super Bowl championships. The Patriots rushed for 244 yards in the win, led by Corey Dillon’s 144 yards.
Manning and the Colts then gained an edge, winning five of the next six matchups, including a comeback win in the 2006 AFC Championship game in Indianapolis. The Patriots led that game, 21-3, only to lose, 38-34.
Manning missed the 2011 season with an injury and then left the Colts to join the Broncos. After beating Manning’s Colts in 2010, New England then went on to seven more in a row, including playoff games in 2013 and 2014 when they dominated the Andrew Luck-led Colts.
Indy has won two of the last three meetings, including an ugly 10-6 win last year in Germany.
So while the matchup doesn’t arrive with the anticipation that led into Colts-Patriots games for more than a decade, it does feature two young quarterbacks drafted in the top 5. Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson was drafted fourth overall in 2023, and the Patriots Drake Maye was selected third overall in the 2024 Draft.
Richardson is 6-6 as an NFL starter with eight touchdown passes and eight interceptions. Maye is 2-5 with 10 touchdown passes and seven interceptions while being sack 21 times in those seven games.
The series:
- The Patriots lead the all-time series, 53-31
- The Patriots longest winning streak against the Colts is eight games (2010-2018)
- The Colts longest winning streak against New England is three games (1970-1971 & 2005-2006)
- The Patriots are 31-13 at home and 22-18 on the road in the series (2023 “home” game played in Frankfurt, Germany)
- There have been four overtime games in the series and New England is 3-1 in those games
- New England has won nine of the last 11 in the series
- The series dates to Oct. 4, 1970 (a 14-6 Colts win at Harvard Stadium)
- The Patriots largest margin of victory is 39 (42-3 home win on Oct. 6, 1974)
- The Colts largest margin of victory is 31 (31-0 road win on Nov. 26, 1972)
