FOXBOROUGH, MASS. – Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are headed to a place where no coach or player has gone more — the Super Bowl.
The New England Patriots' dominant duo earned a sixth trip to the Super Bowl with a 45-7 wipeout of the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game before a raucous, rain-soaked crowd Sunday.
Scoring touchdowns on their first four second-half possessions, the Patriots (14-4) moved on to face defending champion Seattle (14-4) for the NFL title on Feb. 1 in Glendale, Ariz. Belichick will face Pete Carroll, whom he replaced as Patriots coach in 2000.
"I only have one thing to say. We're on to Seattle," Belichick said, echoing the statement he repeated several times, "We're on to Cincinnati," after a 41-14 loss at Kansas City dropped the Patriots to 2-2.
Brady threw three touchdown passes, LeGarrette Blount ran 30 times for 148 yards and three scores and the Patriots charged away after leading just 17-7 at halftime.
"I know we've had some ups and downs this year," Brady said, "but right now we're up, baby, and we're going to try to stay up for one more game."
Brady completed 23 of 35 passes for 226 yards before being replaced by Jimmy Garoppolo with 3:20 left.
For Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, it was the worst game of his three-year career and the fourth rout in his four career games against the Patriots, all by at least three touchdowns. He completed 12 of 33 passes for 126 yards.
