INDIANAPOLIS — There was a brisk 40-degree breeze outside five years ago on an NFL Sunday Night. The heat, the tension, however, was broiling inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
Exactly nine months before this Oct. 18, 2015 game — on a cool and rainy January evening at Gillette Stadium — the Indianapolis Colts lost in the AFC Championship to the New England Patriots. And thereafter, an allegedly partially deflated ball (or balls) would forever mark that game as Deflategate.
This was the first time the Colts and Patriots were facing off since that tainted game. Patriots coach Bill Belichick, analysts said after the game, was inside Colts coach Chuck Pagano's head in a major way.