The Indianapolis Colts have reached the Super Bowl, in part, because they signed free agent kicker Adam Vinatieri away from their rivals, the New England Patriots. But Vinatieri isn’t the only thing the Colts took from the Patriots. Indianapolis has also taken New England’s philosophy of building a team, which involves paying top salaries to a few key players but holding the line on spending for players in complementary roles.

The three-time Super Bowl champion Patriots are often cited as the model NFL franchise, a team whose front office finds the perfect blend of players to stay competitive year after year in a league where parity pulls other teams to the middle. Indianapolis was criticized in some quarters for taking the opposite route, giving exorbitant contracts to star players, chief among them quarterback Peyton Manning, and therefore having less left over for the rest of the roster.

But as the Colts prepare for Super Bowl XLI, the truth is that they reached the title game using a very similar approach to the way the Patriots won their three titles. The Patriots’ philosophy isn’t about conserving money, it’s about spending wisely. And the Colts’ wise spending is why they have consistently stayed near the top of the league.

When Manning signed his seven-year, $98 million contract in March 2004, he became the highest-paid player in league history. Manning’s contract isn’t as expensive as it’s often made out to be, though. The $34.5 million signing bonus Manning received was a league record, but the amount the signing bonus counts against the salary cap is prorated in the NFL over the life of the contract, so there has never been a season in which Manning’s salary cap value was disproportionate to his value on the field. Manning also restructured his contract last year to help the Colts’ salary cap situation.

And teams don’t run into problems when giving huge contracts to truly elite players. In fact, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is also one of the league’s highest-paid players, giving the lie to the notion that the Patriots don’t spend money. Problems arise not from paying valuable players like Manning and Brady, but from giving huge contracts to players who don’t produce on the field, either signing big-name free agents who are past their prime (as the Washington Redskins have often done), or drafting highpriced but unproven college players (a frequent mistake made by the Detroit Lions).

Both the Colts and the Patriots allowed big-name offensive players to leave before the 2006 season rather than meet their salary demands. Colts running back Edgerrin James left as a free agent for the Arizona Cardinals, and the Patriots traded wide receiver Deion Branch to the Seattle Seahawks. Although the situations were not the same — James’s contract had expired, while Branch had a year left on his deal — in both cases the teams calculated that the real centerpiece of their offenses was the quarterback, and that having a great quarterback meant they could spend less money on other skill position players. Both Branch and James became less productive in their new environments, while both the Colts and the Patriots saw their offenses continue to be as productive as ever. The Colts had the better offense in part because they got more production out of the rookie runner they drafted, Joseph Addai, than the Patriots got out of the rookie receiver they drafted, Chad Jackson.

The teams do have some differences in approach: The Colts spend much more than the Patriots on the wide receivers to catch Manning’s passes, as both Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne have long-term contracts that make them among the league’s highestpaid receivers. The Patriots, meanwhile, have devoted more resources to the linemen who protect Brady than the Colts have on the linemen who protect Manning.

On the other side of the ball, both the Colts and the Patriots have a big decision coming up this offseason: Each team will have to determine whether to spend the money necessary to retain a top defensive player. Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney and Patriots cornerback Asante Samuel both become unrestricted free agents in March, and both will command big contracts. The most likely scenario is that the Colts and Patriots will take the same approach: Declare Freeney and Samuel their franchise players, agreeing to pay them a salary equal to the five highest-paid players in the league at their position, but restricting their ability to sign with another team.

Colts general manager Bill Polian might spend the money necessary to keep Freeney, but the Colts simply refuse to get into bidding wars for high-priced free agents from other teams. In fact, of the 45 players who will suit up for the Colts in Super Bowl XLI, exactly one, Vinatieri, joined the team as an unrestricted free agent. Polian, who has run the Colts for a decade, believes in drafting wisely and hiring coaches who will develop the players he drafts, not in spending money on high-priced free agents from other teams.

Vinatieri earned three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots, and both his former team and his current team recognize his value. But appreciating Vinatieri’s worth is far from the only way these two franchises are alike.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.