The Sports Xchange

INDIANAPOLIS — After posting three consecutive wins, the Indianapolis Colts aren’t about to start listening to outside noise concerning their next game.

The Colts are set to face the undefeated New England Patriots in a nationally-televised game on Sunday night. It will mark the first meeting of the two franchises since last January’s AFC Championship Game, which New England won, 45-7.

In the aftermath of that loss, Deflategate was spawned and all the national attention/discussion that went along with it.

But Indianapolis head coach Chuck Pagano isn’t about to let his preparations for the Patriots get bogged down with a lot of talk about past events.

The same goes for all those one-sided losses that the Colts were handed by New England in recent years.

Over the last four games, including playoffs, the Patriots outscored Indianapolis, 189-73. That averages 47.3 to 18.3 points per game.

“Really not concerned with that,” Pagano said. “Our concern is with us right now and getting better. So that’s what we’re doing right now.

“The guys are watching tape, evaluating it, looking at the positives (of the 27-20 win over Houston), looking at areas where individually and position group-wise, offense, defense, special teams, where we can get better. Our focus is on us and us only. We know we’ve got a big game coming up because it’s the next game.”

After starting the 2015 season with losses to AFC East teams Buffalo and the New York Jets, the Colts have rebounded with three victories over AFC South foes Tennessee, Jacksonville and Houston.

But Indianapolis will face its stiffest test of the season when the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots come to town. Pagano understands the challenge. But he’s more concerned right now about his team’s continued improvement.

“I love the challenge of coming here every day as coach,” Pagano said. “Our players love the challenge of coming in every day and challenging themselves to get better. That’s the challenge that we kind of wrap our minds around. We’re worried about us.”

That being said, he knows that New England is going to be tough to handle.

“They do a nice job based on matchups,” Pagano said. “They’ve got good players, good runners. Got guys blocking that are good players for them.

“They’re playing at a high level right now. You see the score differential. You see how the offense, how the defense is playing. They’re playing really good team football, as good as anybody in the league right now. So it’s going to be a heck of a challenge.”

His goal, however, is for his team to improve this week.

“The thing that we want to talk about is how do we get better?” Pagano said. “Offense, defense and special teams. How do we make a run defense better, how do we run the ball better, how do we protect better, how do we get after the quarterback better, play better special teams? Everything? The focus is on us.”

The devil is in the details, he explained.

“If we do the “i” and cross the “t’s”, and we prepare and we study, and we do the things necessary during the week and we have good practices,” Pagano said.

“Get some guys back healthy and those kinds of things, then we’ll play well on Sunday. You got to just take it one day at a time and focus on what you need to focus on. Put your blinders on, put your earmuffs on and just worry about knowing your assignments and doing your job to the best of your ability.”

SERIES HISTORY: 75th regular season meeting. Patriots lead the regular season series, 46-28. New England also leads in post-season meetings, 4-1. The Colts are 16-21 in home games against New England and 12-25 in away games. Indianapolis is 2-1 against the Patriots in a regular-season meetings at Lucas Oil Stadium and was 7-14 at the Hoosier/RCA Dome. Counting playoff games, Indianapolis has lost its last six meetings with the Patriots. The Colts have not defeated New England since Nov. 15, 2009 (35-34 at Lucas Oil Stadium). New England defeated Indianapolis twice last season, 42-20 on Nov. 16, 2014, at Lucas Oil Stadium (Patriots RB Jonas Gray had 201 yards rushing and four touchdowns) in the regular-season meeting and 45-7 at Gillette Stadium in the AFC Championship Game. New England and the Colts were in the AFC East together from 1970 to 2001. The Patriots swept the home-and-home series 12 times while the Baltimore/Indianapolis franchise had five series sweeps. There were 14 splits in the series. The Colts’ lone post-season win over New England came on Jan. 21, 2007, when Indianapolis rallied for a 38-34 victory in the AFC Championship Game.

GAME PLAN: Indianapolis might have found something to help the offense over the last two weeks. The Colts tweaked their game plan a bit with the team’s backup quarterback running the show, going to quicker throws and shorter drops.

Moving the pocket has also helped with tempo. Regardless of who ends up starting at quarterback Sunday night against New England, expect more of the same this week. Also ball control and controlling the tempo of the game on offense is crucial.

Defensively, Indianapolis has to find a way to provide more pass rush than they’ve shown through the first five weeks of the season. Getting to the quarterback and trying to disrupt this rhythm is probably more important this week than it has been all season. It won’t be easy.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

–Colts QB Andrew Luck vs. Patriots pass defense.

Luck, if he ends up starting Sunday night against New England, has had his struggles against the Patriots. He has completed 82-of-163 passes for 1,094 yards and six touchdowns. But Luck is 0-4 against New England in the regular season and playoffs while being sacked five times and having 10 passes intercepted. He also has fumbled once.

–Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski vs. Colts pass defense.

Gronkowski has been a major thorn in the side of the Indianapolis defense in recent years. The Colts have not been able to come up with a successful plan to slow down the combination of quarterback Tom Brady to Gronkowski. The big tight end is too fast and quick for the linebackers, while also being too big and strong for the defensive backs.