Talk about crashing a party. It seemed the AFC Championship Game was destined to be another installment of Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady, with the winner once again having a shot at hoisting the Lombardi trophy. Now, here come quarterback Andrew Luck and the upstart Indianapolis Colts. Judging by their performance Sunday, somebody forgot to send them the memo.

The New England Patriots gave us the best game of the AFC divisional round with their 35-31 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The Colts delivered the biggest upset of the playoffs when they rolled into Denver and stunned the Broncos 24-13. What can we expect this weekend? The Patriots have been the best team in the AFC for the past three months, but the Colts could be this year's version of the 2012 Ravens, who also pulled an unlikely upset in Denver in the divisional round before winning at New England in the AFC title game.

Those are some of the things worth thinking about as we await Sunday's championship game in New England. Here are 10 others of note:

1. Which quarterback will play better Sunday? The Patriots seem to have taken the approach that they will ride Tom Brady's arm as far as it will take them. He looks very much up to the challenge. The Patriots called passes on 54 of their 66 total plays in their 35-31 divisional playoff win over the Ravens. That air assault led to some difficult moments in the first half -- Baltimore sacked Brady twice with a four-man rush before halftime -- but he hit his stride in the second half, when he completed 72.7 percent of his attempts for 151 yards and the game-winning touchdown pass to Brandon LaFell. Should we also mention Brady twice led his team back from a 14-point deficit, which made the Patriots the first squad to do that in the postseason? Last year, Brady looked like he was outmanned and frustrated during a loss in the AFC title game at Denver. This year, he's on his game and clearly confident in the weapons at his disposal.

Andrew Luck completed only 20 of 41 passes and threw four picks against the Pats last postseason. Jim Rogash/Getty Images

2. Is Andrew Luck finally ready to beat New England? Maybe. Luck is the only quarterback left in the postseason who hasn't won a Super Bowl, but he's gaining confidence in a hurry. That will be critical to whatever success he achieves against the Patriots. The Colts have faced New England three times during Luck's career, and they've been destroyed on each occasion (a 42-20 loss this season, a 43-22 loss in last year's divisional playoffs and a 59-24 whipping during Luck's rookie year). He also accounted for eight turnovers by himself in those first two defeats. The encouraging thing about Luck is he just led his team to a huge upset over a team that had two Pro Bowl pass-rushers and three Pro Bowl defensive backs. If he can win in Denver, he could engineer another surprise in New England.

3. How significant will Darrelle Revis be in this contest? Huge. There's little question that New England's Super Bowl hopes suffered a huge blow in each of the past two AFC title games because of injuries to former cornerback Aqib Talib. As soon as Talib limped out of both contests, New England became more vulnerable to big passing plays. Revis has given the Patriots another Pro Bowl performer in the secondary, but he proved Saturday that he is human. Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith beat him on a 9-yard touchdown pass early in the game, and Revis also was flagged for two key penalties (one for pass interference and another for holding). Revis did help limit Smith to three receptions, but he needs to be better for the Patriots to advance.