NFL PREVIEW

Andrew Luck may need a little, well, luck.

The Indianapolis Colts’ young quarterback has faced the New England Patriots three times and the results have been less lovely than Luck’s bushy beard. It’s Patriots 3, Colts 0, by a combined score of 144-66.

That’s one of the story lines in battle Sunday for the AFC championship and a Super Bowl berth.

Here’s another: If the Patriots win, they will go to the Super Bowl for a record-tying eighth time. A victory over the Colts would mark coach Bill Belichick’s NFL-record 21^st playoff win. The Patriots have beaten the Colts five straight times, including playoffs.

The AFC championship game in Foxborough, Mass., will be televised by CBS, with a scheduled kickoff time of 6:40 p.m. ET.

In the NFC matchup, the Green Bay Packers visit the Seattle Seahawks, who are the defending Super Bowl champions. The season began with those two meeting in Seattle and the Seahawks coming away with a 36-16 victory.

“This team, from Week 1, has grown a lot,” Packers tight end Andrew Quarless says.

The Elias Sports Bureau, the NFL’s official keeper of statistics, notes that this is only the second time that a conference championship game will feature the league’s top-scoring offense (Green Bay) and top scoring defense (Seattle). The only other time was in 1980 (the high-scoring Dallas Cowboys vs. the penurious Philadelphia Eagles).

The game kicks off at 3:05 p.m. ET and is televised by Fox. Super Bowl XLIX (49) is set for University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 1.

The picks

New England 37, Indianapolis 30. Tom Brady gets to add to his Super Bowl legacy. … Seattle 23, Green Bay 20. A field goal in the final minute allows the Seahawks the chance to repeat.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .