Extra Points: ‘Luck’ is never enough against Brady and Belichick

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(SportsNetwork.com) – The NFL will probably be Andrew Luck’s league in the next two or three years but that future will only start when Bill Belichick and Tom Brady decide it does.

Much has been made of the Indianapolis Colts/New England Patriots rivalry which dates back to the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird-like Brady/Peyton Manning feud but calling the Luck-led Colts a peer to football’s dynamic duo is akin to saying fire has an issue with kindling.

Luck and the Colts had lost to the Patriots by at least 21 points in each of their three previous tries, being outscored 144-66 in those contests. And things only got worse on Sunday as New England reached its record-tying eighth Super Bowl by running over Indy like a speed bump, 45-7, in the AFC Championship Game at a rainy Gillette Stadium.

Brady was as sharp as ever in his ninth AFC title game, bolstering his resume as perhaps the greatest quarterback who ever lived by throwing for three scores, while LeGarrette Blount rushed 30 times for 148 yards and three scores of his own, quite the sequel to his 166-yard performance against the Colts in the divisional round a year ago.

“I know we’ve had some ups and downs this year,” Brady said, “but right now we’re up, baby, and we’re going to try to stay up for one more game.”

That one more game will be against the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, who advanced to Super Bowl XLIX earlier in the say by rallying from a 16-point deficit for a thrilling 28-22 overtime win over Green Bay.

Brady, who completed 23-of-35 passes for 226 yards before being replaced by rookie Jimmy Garoppolo with 3:20 left in the game, now has 20 postseason wins as a starting quarterback, an ongoing NFL record, while his sixth Super Bowl berth moved him past Broncos legend John Elway for the most by any signal caller and tied him with ex-Bills and Broncos defensive lineman Mike Lodish for most of any player.

Belichick, meanwhile, surpassed Tom Landry for the most postseason wins by a coach with 21 and his sixth big game matches Don Shula for the top spot.

Some wondered why Belichick sent Brady back on the field with a five-plus TD lead late in the game but as usual the veteran mentor was ahead of the curve. It was a curtain call and after one hand-off, Brady trotted off to a standing ovation and an embrace from his boss, the greatest QB/coach combination in NFL history sharing a rare public display of affection.

For Luck, it was the worst game of his three-year professional career as he completed just 12-of-33 passes for 126 yards touchdowns and two interceptions as he often forced things in an attempt to make something happen.

“My play wasn’t up to par to give you a chance to beat a great team,” Luck said.

He was hardly the only Indianapolis player to struggle, however. The defense couldn’t solve the New England running game again, a troubling trend, and Luck’s receivers couldn’t get much separation against a Pats defensive backfield led by All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis.

“It’s a very disappointing loss,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano admitted. “We’ll learn from this. We’ll grow from this.”

Hopefully Indianapolis can grow from a humbling setback but it was pretty clear that the Colts’ roster was by far the least talented of the four teams that played on Championship Sunday and it was their young quarterback who carried them to this position.

In the era of Brady and Belichick, however, “Luck” isn’t nearly enough in Foxborough.

“I only have one thing to say. We’re on to Seattle,” Belichick said, a nod to his “we’re on to Cincinnati” mantra after the team’s low point this season, a 41-14 loss at Kansas City in Week 4.

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