REGULAR SEASON GAME 9 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (6-2) at INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (8-0) DATE: Sunday, November 15, 2009 SITE: Lucas Oil Stadium KICKOFF: 8:20 p.m. (EST) CAPACITY: 63,000 SURFACE: FieldTurf Meeting an opponent in a contest that will be waged before a nation- COLTS 2009 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE al audience for the ninth consecutive time, the Indianapolis Colts, 8-0, host the New England Patriots, 6-2, on Sunday, November 15. Kickoff DAY DATE OPPONENT TIME/RESULT for the game, telecast by NBC Sports, is 8:20 p.m. (EST) in Lucas Oil Sun. Sept. 13 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS W 14-12 Stadium. Westwood One provides coast-to-coast radio coverage. Mon. Sept. 21 at Miami Dolphins W 27-23 The Colts and Patriots have met on a national stage annually since the play- Sun. Sept. 27 at Arizona Cardinals W 31-10 offs following the 2003 season, splitting eight contests. Three of the con- Sun. Oct. 4 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS W 34-17 tests have been playoff affairs, with two of those battles deciding the AFC Sun. Oct. 11 at Tennessee Titans W 31- 9 champion. The Patriots topped the Colts on January 18, 2004, 24-14 in Sun. Oct. 18 Open Date Foxborough, to win the conference title. New England beat Indianapolis Sun. Oct. 25 at St. Louis Rams W 42- 6 the next season in the Divisional Playoffs, 20-3 on January 16, 2005 in Sun. Nov. 1 SAN FRANCISCO 49ers W 18-14 Gillette Stadium. Indianapolis took consecutive November contests in Foxborough, 40-21 on November 7, 2005 and 27-20 on November 5, 2006. Sun. Nov. 8 HOUSTON TEXANS W 20-17 Both wins extended the Colts' record to 8-0. Indianapolis prevailed over Sun. Nov. 15 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 8:20 p.m. New England, 38-34, in the AFC Championship Game on January 21, Sun. Nov. 22* at Baltimore Ravens 1:00 p.m. 2007, earning a berth in Super Bowl XLI. New England ended the Colts' Sun. Nov. 29* at Houston Texans 1:00 p.m. series winning streak with a 24-20 verdict in the RCA Dome on November Sun. Dec. 6* TENNESSEE TITANS 1:00 p.m. 4, 2007, in a meeting of the best undefeated records in NFL history (8-0, Sun. Dec. 13* DENVER BRONCOS 1:00 p.m. New England; 7-0, Colts). Indianapolis produced an 18-15 home win last Thu. Dec. 17* at Jacksonville Jaguars 8:20 p.m. November 2. The first of these nationally-televised outings was a 27-24 Sun. Dec. 27* NEW YORK JETS 4:15 p.m. Patriots home win in the 2004 opener. The teams are meeting for the fifth Sun. Jan. 3* at Buffalo Bills 1:00 p.m. consecutive season in November. The Colts and Patriots stand as the winningest organizations since the *subject to change (NFL Flex Scheduling) ~All Times Local to Indianapolis. start of the 1999 season. Indianapolis owns a 122-46 regular-season record COLTS MEDIA SCHEDULE NOV. 11-13 during that span, while New England boasts a mark of 116-52. The Colts Wednesday - Open Locker Room 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. have an NFL-best nine playoff appearances since 1999, while the Patriots' Head Coach Jim Caldwell 12:45 p.m. six appearances are tied for the third-most. The Colts and Patriots each Practice 2:00-4:00 p.m. won five consecutive division titles (2003-07), before finishing second in Bill Belichick Conference Call 11:15 a.m. their respective divisions last year. Indianapolis and New England are two Patriots Player Conference Call TBA of nine organizations to win five or more consecutive divisional flags since Thursday- Open Locker Room 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. the NFL Merger in 1970 (7, LA Rams, NFC West, 1973-79; 6, Minnesota, Head Coach Jim Caldwell 12:45 p.m. NFC Central, 1973-78; 6, Pittsburgh, AFC Central, 1974-79; 5, Oakland, Practice 2:00-4:00 p.m. AFC West, 1972-76; 5, Chicago, NFC Central, 1984-88; 5, San Francisco, Friday- Head Coach Jim Caldwell 10:45 a.m. NFC West, 1986-90; 5, Dallas, NFC East, 1992-96; 5, Indianapolis, AFC Practice 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. South, 2003-07; 5, New England, AFC East, 2003-07). The clubs also are Open Locker Room 1:00-1:45 p.m. moving near the top regular-season victory total for any team in any NFL *Please view the club’s regular-season media policy for practice availability. decade. San Francisco won 113 regular-season games during the 1990s. Indianapolis (109) and New England (109) have moved past other promi- PERSONNEL REPORT: WR-Anthony Gonzalez (knee), DB-Kelvin LONGEST REGULAR-SEASON Hayden (knee), K-Adam Vinatieri (knee) were out; RB-Donald Brown WINNING STREAKS IN NFL HISTORY (shoulder), WR-Pierre Garcon (ankle), DT-Fili Moala (concussion), DB- Jamie Silva (hip) were questionable for the last game. Last game's Team Games Year inactive players were: Gonzalez, Hayden, Vinatieri, Brown, OT-Tony New England 21 2006-08 Ugoh, TE-Tom Santi, DT-Fili Moala, QB-Curtis Painter. New England 18 2003-04 TELEVISION/RADIO: NBC Sports telecasts with Al Michaels, Cris COLTS *17 2008-09 Collinsworth and Andrea Kremer (field reporter). 1070-The Chicago 17 1933-34 Fan/HANK-FM, 97.1 broadcasts with Bob Lamey, Will Wolford and Kevin Lee (field reporter). Westwood One broadcasts nationally with Chicago 16 1941-42 Dave Sims, James Lofton and Hub Arkush (field reporter). Miami 16 1971-73 WWW.COLTS.COM/MEDIA: Please visit the media site for club Miami 16 1983-84 information, releases, quotes, feature clips, advisories, etc. The user- Pittsburgh 16 2004-05 name and password is ‘media.’ nent decade totals from past NFL teams (113, San Francisco, 1990s, 1 SB franchise to win seven or more consecutive regular-season games in six title; 109, New England, 2000s, 3 SB titles; 109, Colts, 1 SB title; 105, consecutive seasons (8, 2004; 13, 2005; 9, 2006; 7 and 6, 2007; 9, 2008; 8, Dallas, 1970s, 2 SB titles; 104, Miami, 1970s, 2 SB titles; 104, San 2009). Additionally, the club produced its 10th consecutive home win, Francisco, 1980s, 4 SB titles; 102, Buffalo, 1990s, 0 SB titles; 102, Kansas marking the 3rd-longest streak in team history (12, 2006-07; 11, 2004-05). City, 1990s, 0 SB titles; 100, Dallas, 1990s, 3 SB titles). New England earned a 27-17 home win over Miami last Sunday. The Colts reach Sunday's contest after a 20-17 victory last Sunday at The Colts are owners of the NFL's best regular-season record (122- home over Houston. The victory extended the sixth 10+-game regular-sea- 46) since the start of the 1999 season, while being the only team to earn son winning streak in franchise history (17, 2008-09; 13, 2005; 11, 1964; nine playoff appearances in the last 10 seasons, including a league-best 11, 1975-76; 11, 1999; 10, 2005-06), the fourth since 1999. In extending seven consecutive post-season berths. Indianapolis has won 67 of its last their streak to 17 consecutive regular-season victories, the Colts became the 81 regular-season games. Indianapolis' winning ways include a 35-10 4th team to earn a streak of 17+ consecutive regular-season victories (21, record in AFC South play, while the club has owned or shared the lead in New England, 2006-08; 18, New England, 2003-04; 17, Chicago, 1933- 103 of 127 weeks of the division's existence. The Colts won five AFC 34). Last week's victory provided the Colts with their third 8-0 start in the South championships from 2003-07, the best divisional-title streak in past five seasons (13-0, 2005; 9-0, 2006) and made Jim Caldwell the only club history. Indianapolis is the only NFL team to have double-digit vic- Colts head coach to win his first eight games. Caldwell is the only rookie tory totals and playoff appearances each season since the 2002 NFL head coach in the Super Bowl era to start 8-0. The 8-0 record now ties Realignment. In 2008, Indianapolis produced its seventh consecutive Caldwell for the best start in NFL history by a rookie coach (8, Potsy Clark, 10+-victory season, tying the second-longest streak in NFL history (16, Portsmouth, 1931). Indianapolis also extended its NFL record as the only San Francisco, 1983-98; 7, Dallas, 1975-81). 2009 TEAM RANKINGS - UNDERLINE DENOTES RANKING IS TIED OFFENSE RANKING DEFENSE RANKING Total Rush Pass CONF. NFL Total Rush Pass CONF. NFL Colts 400.4 85.4 315.0 2-15- 1 4-29- 1 303.4 108.1 195.3 5- 6- 5 8-14- 9 Patriots 409.3 114.3 295.0 1- 8- 2 2-16- 2 291.8 112.4 179.4 4-10- 2 7-20- 4 COLTS-PATRIOTS SERIES NOTES New England owns a 42-27 regular season series advantage over the REGULAR SEASON SERIES HISTORY Colts, and the Patriots have taken two of three playoff games between the (PATRIOTS LEAD COLTS 42-27) clubs. These teams met last November 2 in Indianapolis, with Indianapolis posting an 18-15 victory. K-Adam Vinatieri booted a 52-yard field goal GAME-BY-GAME SINCE 1998 midway through the final quarter to help Indianapolis earn the victory. QB- DATE LOCATION RESULT COLTS NE Peyton Manning (21-29-254, 2 TDs) teamed with WR-Anthony Gonzalez 9/13/98 @New England L 6 29 (4-55, 2 TDs; 12t; 9t) on two scoring passes, while the Indianapolis defense 11/ 1/98 Indianapolis L 16 21 produced takeaways on New England's final two possessions to secure the 9/19/99 @New England L 28 31 win.