AFC Championship Game 2015: Injury Report and Predictions for Colts vs. Patriots

Any time a game brings as many implications as the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts' meeting in the AFC Championship Game, injuries are bound to be a factor.

The war of attrition that is the NFL takes its toll on team rosters. Each of the four teams that have gotten to this point have important players hampered by injury, and while playing through the pain is expected this time of the year, there's no denying the inevitable impact said injuries can have.

Both the Colts and Patriots will enter Sunday's game relatively healthy, but a couple of notable names have cropped up on the injury report as kickoff nears.

Let's break down who those players are, and take a closer glimpse at the matchup itself.

Player	Pos.	Injury	Practice Status	Game Status
Erik Walden	LB	Knee	Full participant	Probable
Vontae Davis	CB	Knee	Limited participant	Questionable
Gregory Toler	CB	Groin	Limited participant	Questionable

Player	Pos.	Injury	Practice Status	Game Status
Bryan Stork	C	Knee	Did not participate	Out
Tom Brady	QB	Ankle	Full participant	Probable
Brandon Browner	CB	Knee	Limited participant	Probable
Qualin Hightower	LB	Shoulder	Limited participant	Probable
Christopher Jones	DT	Elbow	Limited participant	Probable
Brandon LaFell	WR	Shoulder	Limited participant	Probable

Note: Injury reports courtesy of NFL.com

AFC Championship Game Preview

It's the typical AFC Championship Game showdown between the Patriots and Colts that we've become accustomed to over the years but fit with a new-age twist.

Alas, it's not the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning matchup of old—but rather Brady vs. Andrew Luck, and the new-look Colts that have made a bigger stride in each of Luck's three seasons at the helm. First came a wild-card one-and-done, then a divisional-round loss to New England last season before breaking through and defeating the Denver Broncos to reach the AFC title game in year three.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

One of the most dominant passing attacks in the NFL has led the Colts to the 13-5 record they bring into Sunday, as Luck mans the league's top-rated passing offense with 306 yards per game through the air.

But he'll have to hope for success against New England that he just hasn't seen in his young career. Luck is 0-3 all time against the Pats, and tight end Dwayne Allen noted the task in front of his team to USA Today's Lindsay H. Jones:

"

We're playing against a team who has flat out whooped our butts the last three years we've been here. Those games have not been close," Allen said. "To have the opportunity to play against them with hopes of advancing to the Super Bowl is everything that you could ask for, especially with the way that this season unfolded — losing different playmakers, overcoming that, having of course the win over Peyton Manning in the divisional round. And now, you get to go against your bully.

"

To make matters even tougher for Luck, he's set to go up against one of the NFL's most experienced cornerback duos in Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner.

The Pats secondary ranks just 17th in the NFL in passing yards given up but big plays will be at a premium against New England's two physical, pressing corners. Revis expects his team's experience going up against potent offenses will pay dividends, per ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss:

"

We’ve came a long way, probably had one of the toughest schedules, playing against some great quarterbacks, some great offenses. Very explosive offenses, and we stood up to the challenge the whole year. You have to give everybody credit -- the coaching staff, the players. We put a lot of our players in some tough situations this year, and we stood up to the challenge. 

"

Luck is bound to have success against a Patriots team that he's thrown for at least 300 yards against in each of his three games versus New England. But doing enough to out-score Brady and Co. is a completely different story.

Along with epic playoff pedigree as the Patriots' Twitter account demonstrated, Brady is also coming off a scorching performance against the Baltimore Ravens:

The Colts have some ball-hawking players in the secondary such as Vontae Davis to help make life difficult on Brady. But given how weapons Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and Brandon LaFell have performed as of late, one of them is bound to get open.

Add that to a potentially stout rushing attack, and the Patriots should pull out the victory. New England rushed for almost 250 yards against Indianapolis back in Week 11, and it will be intent on establishing the run after just 14 team rushing yards versus Baltimore last weekend.

Luck comes into Sunday's game red hot, and that will be enough for him to keep his Colts in it. But without much of a running game, Indianapolis will struggle to push the Patriots in the end.

Prediction: Patriots 31, Colts 27