FOXBORO, Mass. — Not here. Not now. The New England Patriots are headed to their third AFC Championship Game in four years after a smash-mouth 20-3 victory against the Indianapolis Colts in a divisional playoff Sunday that was the football equivalent of a TKO.
The Patriots (15-2), whom many predicted would see their bid to repeat as NFL champions snuffed out by the team that possesses the league's most productive offense, instead were poised to play the role of ultimate bullies.
They punched their visitors in the mouth, pushed them all across the damp field at Gillette Stadium and gave them yet another black eye — all while under the backdrop of perfect Patriots weather: swirling snow flurries and a wind chill factor in the teens.
And once again, the Patriots — who will head to Pittsburgh for Sunday's title game against a Steelers team that defeated them 34-20 on Oct. 31, ending their NFL-record 21-game winning streak — proved that good defense stifles explosive offense.
"They called us replacements and said we didn't have a chance," Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said afterward. "It gave us more intensity."
Indianapolis, which averaged an NFL-high 32.5 points a game during the regular season and opened the playoffs with a 49-point outburst against the Denver Broncos, couldn't score a touchdown against a Patriots defense that was missing arguably its two best players, cornerback Ty Law and defensive end Richard Seymour.
Yet in breaking open a close game with a sterling second half that coach Bill Belichick called his team's "best 30 minutes of the season," the Patriots dominated in every facet of the contest.
New England's defense disrupted league MVP Peyton Manning— now 0-7 in career games in Foxboro — and the Colts' top-ranked passing offense with tight coverage and cat-and-mouse blitzes. Its offense demonstrated its own ability to roll with a physical beat down.
With running back Corey Dillon sparking the rushing game with 144 yards on 23 carries and quarterback Tom Brady getting first downs on precision passes, the Patriots offense provided an extra defense against the Colts offense.
Talk about domination. New England hogged the ball for 37 minutes, 43 seconds to Indianapolis' 22:17.
Its first scoring drive, producing the first of Adam Vinatieri's two second-quarter field goals, was its longest of the season in terms of time and plays, chewing up 9 minutes, 7 seconds over 16 snaps.
In the third quarter, New England generated a 15-play, 87-yard march that took 8:16 and was capped by a scrambling Brady's 5-yard touchdown toss to David Givens.
Then there was a 14-play, 94-yard march in the fourth quarter, punctuated by a 27-yard jaunt from Dillon on a third-down draw play to set up Brady's 1-yard touchdown plunge that provided the final margin.
Ballgame.
Until a desperate last-gasp drive in the final three minutes, the Colts had the ball for just 14 snaps in the second half.
"Their offense is used to controlling the game, but this time they couldn't do it," Harrison said. "I'm sure it was frustrating for them."