Colts vs. Patriots: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 AFC Championship

Whether it's Week 11 of the regular season or the AFC Championship Game, the New England Patriots have turned a once-competitive rivalry with the Indianapolis Colts into a series of blowouts. 

New England earned its sixth-straight win over its AFC adversary Sunday night in Foxborough, rolling to a comprehensive 45-7 win and booking a spot in the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks. 

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick further entrenched themselves in the NFL record books with the win, as The Boston Globe's Ben Volin, ESPN and ESPN Stats & Info illustrated:

Brady threw for 226 yards and three scores, while LeGarrette Blount again ran over the Colts with 148 yards and three touchdowns in the pouring-down rain. The Pats finished with 397 total yards and tied a playoff record for points with 10 minutes still left in the game, per WEEI.com's Christopher Price:

Belichick commended his team afterwards, via Matt Noonan of NoontimeSports.com:

On the other side of the ball, Andrew Luck failed to get into any kind of a rhythm, completing 12 of his 33 passes for 126 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. This was his fourth loss in as many tries against the Patriots. In those games, the Colts have been outscored 189-73.

A series of early mistakes put the Colts into an early sizable hole. The first came from Josh Cribbs, who fielded a punt off his facemask right into the hands of New England's Darius Fleming, setting up a quick 26-yard touchdown drive for the Patriots. 

On Indy's next drive, Boom Herron dropped a throw down the sideline that would have set the Colts up inside the 10-yard line but instead set up a 51-yard field goal attempt for Adam Vinatieri. The normally reliable kicker sent it wide right, once again giving New England favorable field position. 

Brady capped the subsequent 59-yard drive with a one-yard toss to James Develin, putting the Patriots in front by two touchdowns late in the first quarter. As Price noted, via Football Outsiders' Scott Kacsmar, Belichick's squad has been pretty decent at protecting such leads at home:

With help from some penalties, Luck orchestrated an impressive 93-yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to seven before halftime, but that was as close as the Colts would ever get. 

New England came out of the locker room perfectly mixing the run and the pass. On their first two drives in the third quarter, the Pats had eight runs and eight passes (with one sack) for 149 yards and two touchdowns, taking over 10 minutes of game clock. 

The first of those scores went to offensive lineman Nate Solder for his first career touchdown:

The second went to Rob Gronkowski for his 59th career touchdown, as he caught a five-yard slant to extend the lead to 31-7. But after the comeback in the NFC Championship Game just hours earlier, the Patriots left nothing to chance. 

Darrelle Revis picked off a lofted Luck throw on the next possession, setting up a bulldozing 13-yard touchdown run for Blount, his second touchdown of the game. As ESPN's Jeremy Lundblad pointed out, that has been a theme the last two years:

Of course, that number would continue to grow with another touchdown in the fourth quarter:

Jamie Collins got into the interception act, and the Pats were able to take Brady out for Jimmy Garoppolo, an interesting juxtaposition to when they made the same move for very different reasons 16 weeks ago against the Kansas City Chiefs—the week that turned their season around. 

Only one NFL game remains now, with the Patriots—the last team to win back-to-back titles—looking to stop the Seahawks from accomplishing the same feat. As NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah discussed, there won't be a shortage of storylines: 

That's not to mention Gronkowski matching up with hard-hitting safety Kam Chancellor, Blount battling a physical defense, the Pats linebackers attempting to corral Russell Wilson and a number of other matchups. 

Last year's Super Bowl, despite seemingly endless intrigue, turned into a one-sided battle. Don't expect the same in Glendale on Feb. 1.