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Boomer Esiason: Patriots Will Lay The Hammer Down On Colts

BOSTON (CBS) -- The Patriots improved to 4-0 on Sunday with a win over the undermanned Dallas Cowboys, but now the week fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.

It is officially Colts week.

This is the week fans (and though they won't say it, the team) have been looking forward to since the DeflateGate controversy began in January. The Patriots crushed the Colts to earn their trip to Super Bowl XLIX, but that game was also the beginning of eight months of talk about air pressure, endless amounts of court documents to read and yet another allegation that left the organization and fans defending their team.

The Patriots will take out all of that frustration on the Colts come Sunday night, on national television, when they square off in an AFC Championship game rematch in Indianapolis. Boomer Esiason of WFAN and CBS's The NFL Today joined Toucher & Rich on Monday for his weekly call into the show, and said Sunday night could get ugly for the Colts.

"It's amazing. Think about it; Tom Brady, in many people's eyes, was supposed to be coming off his [four game] suspension and this was going to be the game he would rectify whatever he had to. I don't think that's dissipated at all," said Esiason. "I said when it happened in the playoffs that this would be a game in which Bill Belichick and Tom Brady would load up. They have the best team in the league right now, and the Colts are scuffling."

The 3-2 Colts should have quarterback Andrew Luck back after he missed two games with a right shoulder injury, but Boomer doesn't think that will make much of a difference. Not with Tom Brady on a mission this season, having thrown for 1,387 yards and 11 touchdowns with no interceptions, over his first four games of the season.

"The Patriots are in a different class than the Colts. I don't see how they can stay close, and I can see the Patriots really lay the hammer down on them," he said.

But before we can get too excited for Sunday's game, there were a few concerns from yesterday's 30-6 win over the Cowboys in Dallas. Brady was sacked five times (all in the first half) and hit a number of other times throughout the game.

"I can't remember the last time Brady got hit so often and so physically," said Esiason. "You knew [Greg] Hardy was going to come in and be fired up to make a statement. He did that, and was all over the place. There was a little disappointment in the offensive line play overall, but if you look at the way they pounded (Dallas) in the second half, it was an impressive overall performance."

Boomer also touches on Greg Hardy's comments from last week, the Cincinnati Bengals improving to 5-0 and the Detroit Lions benching Matt Stafford on Sunday:

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