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There is no question that the New England Patriots will be playing the 2015 season with a target on their back, and not just because they're the defending champions. One team that is gunning for the Patriots is the conference rivals Indianapolis Colts, led by quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck spoke with the British football website BritViewNFL.com to discuss this upcoming season.
Luck believes that the Colts have a "realistic chance" of winning the Super Bowl, and as a final four team in 2014 based in the easiest division in the league, his judgment is correct. Any team that gets to the playoffs has a realistic chance of winning the title- it helps that the Colts might be in play for a first round bye.
Luck acknowledges that the Colts have a major hurdle in the Patriots.
"The Patriots are obviously the defending Super Bowl champs and our defending conference champs so there’s a high amount of respect for that team and what they do," Luck stated. "They’re the kings of the league right now and everybody would like to dethrone them- we’d like to dethrone them but you have to look at the season as 16 games. There are fans and media who will hype up certain games and circle them in red on the calendar but, as a player, you lose sight of what’s important if you get into that mode."
Luck is going to approach the upcoming season one game at a time and he won't be giving the Patriots any more attention that he's giving any of the other games on his regular schedule. That's the right approach and the right thing to say.
The Patriots are travelling to Indianapolis for a Week 6 tilt against the Colts, in what is potentially Tom Brady's first game back from suspension. Everyone will have this game circled in red. The Colts jump started the whole DeflateGate ordeal and you can be certain that Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the other members of the Patriots absolutely will be circling this game in red on the calendar.
If anyone appreciates NFL history, it's Belichick- and he won't forget.