by Sports Xchange

--Indianapolis is the only NFL team to earn nine playoff appearances in the last 10 seasons, including a league-best seven consecutive post-season berths.

--Indianapolis has won 17 straight regular-season games dating back to 2008. The Colts are the fourth NFL team to win 17 or more consecutive regular-season games (21, New England, 2006-08; 18, New England, 2003-04; 17, Chicago, 1933-34).

The Colts have extended their sixth 10-plus game regular-season winning streak in franchise history and their fourth since 1999 (17, 2008-09; 13, 2005; 11, 1964; 11, 1975-76; 11, 1999; 10, 2005-06).

--Indianapolis is 8-0 for the third time in the last five seasons (13-0, 2005; 9-0, 2006).

--The Colts are the only NFL franchise to win seven or more consecutive regular-season games in six consecutive seasons (8, 2004; 13, 2005; 9, 2006; 7 and 6, 2007; 9, 2008; 8, 2009).

--Indianapolis has posted 10 consecutive home wins, marking the third-longest streak in team history (12, 2006-07; 11, 2004-05).

--Jim Caldwell is the only Colts head coach to win his first eight games.

Caldwell is also the only rookie head coach in the Super Bowl era to start 8-0, and he is tied with Potsy Clark (Portsmouth, 1931) for the best start in NFL history by a rookie head coach.

--"There's a quote in the bible and I think it's [Luke 14:11] and it says, 'Exalt thyself and be humbled, or humble thyself and be exalted.' I like to take the latter part of that, okay. Really, I think it's more of an indication that our team is playing well, every player, every coach, everybody in this organization certainly has a part in it. Anytime anyone starts to think they are the reason why, or all of a sudden there is a pedestal set that you've accomplished something, it's a team-oriented game. This doesn't have a whole lot to do with my efforts and my work and those kinds of things. It's a part of it, but it's not exclusive. So, therefore I refrain from talking about it a whole lot, but I do recognize that it is something of note because it is hard to win one game in this league, let alone what our team has done, putting together back-to-back games for eight in a row. That's something and that is very, very difficult to do, and I don't want to discount that." -- Caldwell on not getting overly excited about the 8-0 start of his NFL head coaching career.

--"We're going to talk about our task at hand. We'll get ready for this team and play, and we'll add it up at the end. We'll talk about where it puts us after we finish the ballgame, but not before." -- Caldwell on the playoff implications of the New England game and when he will discuss that with his team.

--The Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots have met on a national stage annually since the playoffs following the 2003 season, with each franchise winning four games.

--The first of the nationally televised games between the Colts and Patriots was a 27-24 home win by New England in the 2004 regular-season opener.

--New England and Indianapolis are meeting for the fifth consecutive season in November.

--The Colts and Patriots are the winningest NFL organizations since the start of the 1999 season. Indianapolis owns a 122-46 regular-season record during that time period while New England has a 116-52 won-loss record.

--Indianapolis have an NFL-best nine playoff appearances since 1999, New England's six playoff appearances are tied for the third-most.

--The Colts and Patriots have each won five consecutive division titles from 2003-07 before finishing second in their respective divisions last year.

--Indianapolis and New England are two of nine NFL organizations to win five or more consecutive divisional titles since the NFL merger in 1970.

--The Colts and Patriots are moving near the top for regular-season victory totals for any team in any NFL decade. San Francisco won 113 regular-season games during the 1990s. Indianapolis and New England both have 109 victories since 2000.

--New England QB Tom Brady has won three Super Bowl titles, Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning one. Brady has been the winning quarterback in two of the three playoff meetings between the two teams. Manning has won three of the past four regular-season games.

--Indianapolis beat the Patriots for the 2006 AFC championship. New England, meanwhile, defeated the Colts in the 2004 AFC Championship Game. Manning has three NFL Most Valuable Player awards while Brady (2007) has one. Brady has been the Super Bowl MVP twice (2002, 2004), Manning once (2007).

--Manning has completed 149 of 247 passes (62.9 percent) for 1,824 yards with 15 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 100.6 passer rating in home games against the Patriots. Manning is 303 of 490 for 3,668 yards, 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in his career against the Patriots.

--The Colts are 24-6 (.800) when Manning passes for 300 yards or more in a game.

--Manning leads the NFL with 222 completions.

--Manning became the first quarterback in league history to throw for 40,000 yards or more in a decade (2000-09). He also tied Fran Tarkenton for the fourth most starting wins with 125.

--Manning directed his 39th career fourth quarter/overtime game-winning drive of his career in last week's 20-17 win over Houston.

--WR Reggie Wayne is aiming for his seventh consecutive game with six or more receptions.

--Wayne has 32 receptions for 446 yards and two touchdowns in his career against New England.

--Wayne has passed Raymond Berry's total of 631 receptions for the second-most catches in Colts history. Wayne now has 635 total pass receptions in his nine-year NFL career.

He also threw a pass in the Houston game, which was intercepted. It was his first career pass attempt.

--TE Dallas Clark is averaging 17.2 yards per catch against the Patriots.

--DE Dwight Freeney registered a sack in his ninth consecutive game last week, surpassing DE Robert Mathis' record of eight set in 2005. Freeney tied Bruce Smith and Kevin Greene for the third-longest streak in NFL history. He also tied Mathis' NFL record of eight consecutive games with a sack to start a season.

BY THE NUMBERS: 7 -- QB Peyton Manning has seven 300-yard passing games this season.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "Probably every one of them has been a real battle...A bunch of them have gone right down to the wire. They've been really tough contests. Two very capable teams, and obviously outstanding coaching staffs that are working together trying to find a way to defeat the other. I think they've all been quite memorable." -- Colts coach Jim Caldwell on the rivalry with the New England Patriots.