KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Given the postseason history involving Indianapolis and Kansas City over the years, Andrew Luck and the Colts have every reason to feel confident heading to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday.
The Chiefs have every reason to believe theyre due.
Four times the teams have met in the playoffs, twice in the wild-card round and twice with a spot in the AFC title game on the line. Each time the Colts emerged victorious. All but one were down-to-the-wire nail-biters, one a record-setting shootout and another a defensive slugfest, and each left Colts fans feeling euphoric and Chiefs fans feeling cursed.
Asked whether he understood the magnitude of the next installment in the one-sided series, Chiefs cornerback Kendall Fuller replied quite simply: Oh yeah.
Especially what theyve been going through over the years and things like that, he said. We definitely see how fans feel, what theyre expecting and stuff like that.
There was the 1996 wild-card matchup in which Chiefs kicker Lin Elliott missed three field goals and the Colts won 10-7. The divisional showdown in 2003, when the Colts won 38-31 in a game featuring no punts. The 23-8 whitewashing three years later and, most recently, the 45-44 shootout in which Luck led the Colts from a 38-10 second-half hole to beat Andy Reids first Chiefs team in 2013.
There are still more than a dozen players around who were involved in that game five years ago, yet each acknowledged this week that history has no bearing on what will transpire Saturday .
Obviously they are a great team, said Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, who has played in the past two playoff games against Kansas City. Theyve won a lot of games. Theyve got a very explosive offense. Theyve got probably the best returner in the National Football League with (Tyreek) Hill.
We are going to have to play our best game, Vinatieri said, to try to keep up with them.
The Chiefs happen to believe the same thing.
Yes, they earned the No. 1 seed with their third consecutive AFC West title, and have arguably the games best young quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. Hill joins Travis Kelce, a healthy Sammy Watkins and running backs Spencer Ware and Damien Williams in giving him plenty of weapons , while a defense thats been statistically poor also has more sacks than any other team.
Yet the Colts, the sixth and last seed in the playoffs, may be the hottest team playing . They rebounded from a 1-5 start to win nine of their last 10 games to reach the postseason, then dominated the Houston Texans last week with a bludgeoning ground game and stingy defense .
The way this locker room has prepared, Luck said, its all about just getting better, getting better. … It takes no heroes. You dont need a hero, whether its a playoff game or a regular-season game. Its just everybody doing their jobs that get things done.
Of course, having a little playoff karma never hurts. The Colts certainly have that when it comes to Kansas City, while the Chiefs believe they long ago hit their quota of misfortune.
All of us feel like we are here now and focused on the present day, Mahomes said, and we feel like we have a different team, and that we can go out there and win a big football game.
SPEAKING OF MAHOMES
Colts coach Frank Reich played 13 seasons in the NFL, and has spent most of the past decade working with quarterbacks. And he had high praise for Mahomes , who shattered just about every Chiefs passing record this season.
