The fourth meeting between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts since Andrew Luck joined the NFL was quite similar to the first three, though more was at stake in this one.

The Patriots routed the Colts 45-7 to advance to the Super Bowl, where they’ll face the Seattle Seahawks. The 38-point margin of victory is the largest in Patriots postseason history and the third-largest in a conference championship game.

The Patriots will play at University of Phoenix Stadium for the first time since their Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants.

The history

The Patriots will be making their eighth Super Bowl appearance, tied with the Cowboys and Steelers for most all-time. They improved to 17-4 all-time at home in the postseason and 4-0 in the AFC Championship Game as the No. 1 seed.

Best Record in Home Postseason Games

Bill Belichick set the NFL record for postseason wins by a head coach with his 21st victory, one more than Tom Landry. His six Super Bowl appearances tie Don Shula for most all-time.

Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes and surpassed Peyton Manning’s mark for career postseason passing yards. He’s the first quarterback to win 20 postseason games. Brady will tie Mike Lodish’s record of six Super Bowl appearances.

Brady was 21-of-28 for 174 yards and three touchdowns on throws 10 yards or less downfield.

The Patriots are the third team to notch consecutive 20-point wins in postseason against the same opponent. The other two are the 49ers over the Vikings in 1988 and 1989 and the Colts over the Broncos in 2003 and 2004.

Difference-maker: LeGarrette Blount dominates

LeGarrette Blount had a career-high and Patriots record 30 rushes, netting 148 yards and three touchdowns.

140 Rush Yds, 3 Rush TD
Conference Championship Game

Blount now has a Patriots team record seven postseason rushing touchdowns.

He had four against the Colts last season. He’s the first player in NFL history with multiple postseason games with at least three rushing touchdowns.

Three of his Blount’s five best yardage games in his career have come against the Colts, including these two playoff games.

Luck struggles, gets little help

Luck completed 12 of 33 passes. His 36.3 percent completion percentage is the lowest by a quarterback with at least 30 pass attempts in a playoff game since Trent Dilfer completed 11 of 36 (30.6 percent) for the 1997 Buccaneers against the Packers

Luck was 3-of-17 with an interception on passes thrown more than five yards downfield and 2-of-13 when targeting wide receivers.

Despite not taking a sack, Andrew Luck was pressured on 47 percent of his dropbacks Sunday (17 of 36), the highest single-game percentage of his career. Luck went 4-of-15 passing when under duress Sunday.

The Patriots blitzed on only two of Luck’s 36 dropbacks.

Luck is the second quarterback in the Super Bowl era to lose by 15 or more points in three consecutive postseasons, joining Jake Plummer.