By Tom James, CNHI News Service
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The paths the Colts and Saints took to tonight’s game are remarkably similar. New Orleans started the season with a 13-0 record, and then lost its last three. Indianapolis, meanwhile, was 14-0 before dropping its final two regular-season games.
Both were dominant in winning home postseason games just to get to this point.
And both have had season-defining decisions in Miami this year. Indianapolis rallied for a 27-23 victory over the Dolphins in the season’s second week with 14 fourth-quarter points. The Colts had possession of the football for a little less than 15 minutes in the entire game.
In late October, meanwhile, the Saints posted a 46-34 win over Miami with a comeback of their own. New Orleans trailed 34-24 late in the third quarter but scored 22 fourth-quarter points to put away the Dolphins.
“We kind of hung in there in the second half and made a few plays, got some turnovers and capitalized on them, and that ended up really making the difference and giving us a chance to win,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “All those things, I think, build confidence, and you hope to draw on those things in the postseason.”
Colts coach Jim Caldwell has said the Sept. 21 win over Miami set the tone for the way the Colts would play over the course of the season. Indianapolis had a league-leading seven fourth-quarter comebacks in 2009.
“We were supposedly not going to do very well in that ball game because of the problems we would face battling a very, very fine Dolphins team,” Caldwell said. “And our team found a way. They fight through adversity. And I think, more so than anything else, that game really gave us a little boost early in the season. It really gave us a sense that there’s not a whole lot that can stop us if we play well.”
