Image courtesy of The Indy Star
FOXBOROUGH – So, they’re bad, but at least it’s been entertaining?
New England led by one with a little over five minutes left in a matchup of two mediocre-at-best teams on Sunday. The Colts proceeded to put together a 19-play march spanning 80 yards in just over five minutes. Anthony Richardson hit Alec Pierce for a two-yard touchdown on 4th-&-goal with the game on the line to cut it to one.
Instead of settling for OT, Richardson plowed in for a two-point conversion to make it 25-24 Indy. Drake Maye (24-30, 238 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) got the team just over midfield in the final 12 seconds, but instead of attempting a Hail Mary with one second left, Jerod Mayo opted to have Joey Slye try a 68-yard field goal.
The kick was a bomb and would have been good from 65 or 66 yards, but it was short from 68, sending the Pats to 3-10 on the year and sending those that braved the freezing cold home disappoints yet again.
“I just told the guys, again, I know I sound redundant – we’re doing a of things that are good. We just need to be more consistent,” Jerod Mayo said postgame. “I would say penalties and, look, it’s about us. Penalties continue to show up, both operational and post-snap, which we’ve got to do a better job of. I would also say just our red area in general. Our red area offense I think we were 1 for 6. Our red area defense, we weren’t able to stop them there. That’s really the game. You talk about on special teams, the missed field goal.
“I thought we handled the situations the right way, the way we wanted to, and we gave ourselves a chance to win. Gave ourselves a chance to win at the end.
The first half was a giant microcosm of the entire season to this point for New England. The Pats had a 16-14 lead heading to the break, but it felt like they were down.
New England started with the ball and promptly marched 60 yards in 11 plays, but holding calls – a common theme once again for the O-line as everyone but Ben Brown had at least one in the first 30 minutes – left the Pats settling for a 35-yard Joey Slye field goal.
Indy answered with a very quick eight-play, 71-yard drive that ended with a seven-yard TD catch for running back Jonathan Taylor to make it 7-3. On the Pats’ ensuing drive, Maye almost immediately had the Pats near the Indy red zone thanks to a 41-yard scramble. Another hold negated a Rhamondre Stevenson touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation, and Slye knocked down another 31-yard field goal.
On the last play of the quarter, Jahlani Tavai tipped a pass over the middle that was picked off by Christian Elliss. Unfortunately, once again, the Pats couldn’t muster much and hurt themselves, ultimately settling for another field goal from Slye, this one from 54-yards out to make it 9-7.
The Colts continued the back-and-forth – aided by a 29-yard pass interference call on Tavai – and went back up 14-9 on a three-yard TD run for Richardson with 8:36 left in the half. Maye and the offense proceeded to put together arguably one of the team’s best drives of the half, moving 70-yards in just four plays, capping it with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Austin Hooper for a 16-14 lead with 4:02 to go.
The Colts immediately punted and a good return from Marcus Jones set Maye and the offense up at the New England 42 with 2:57 on the clock. The Pats swiftly moved down field, but once getting deep in Indy territory, a couple more holding calls left Slye with a 25-yard chance that he shanked, wasting the 13-play march and sending the teams to the locker rooms with the Patriots still up by just two. New England had seven penalties for 88 yards in this one.
“I thought we ran the ball up until we got to the goal line pretty well. I think in the passing game I think maybe get through my progression. It was tough down there. It was tight,” Maye said. “Tight windows. Tight throws. I have to give our guys some chances. I think that’s probably the biggest thing. And penalties – I think one of them was penalties. We got back into, like, a first and goal from the 20.
“Just can’t settle for four field goals in the red zone and expect to win ball games.”
Indy opened the second half with a methodical 13-play drive that took up over seven minutes, but couldn’t punch it in with a goal-to-go situation and settled for a 25-yard field goal to take the lead back at 17-16. New England put together another nice march spanning 14 plays to respond, but it ended in disaster.
After a 4th-&-1 convert by Drake Maye that was initially ruled short but challenged by Mayo and overturned, the young QB was picked off two snaps later with the ball inside the 10 as a low throw to Henry ricocheted off of him as he went diving to the ground and was picked off by the Colts in the final minute of the third.
The Colts punted to open the fourth quarter and the offense was back out at the Pats’ 46. Eight plays later, New England seemingly took the lead on a six-yard TD catch by Kendrick Bourne, but an illegal shift on Pop Douglas negated it. One snap later, Antonio Gibson – who had a nice day running hard – ripped off an 11-yard touchdown run. Maye then hit Kayshon Boutte for a two-point pass to put the Pats up 24-17 with 8:43 remaining.
Just two plays after the kickoff, Christian Gonzalez came up with a huge interception at the New England 48, but the offense answered with an immediate three-and-out. That’s when the Colts went to work over the next five minutes, ultimately crushing the hopes of Pats fans that hung around late into the afternoon.
The good news is that those that believed the Pats were too happy following their loss in Miami got what they wanted following this one. The Pats locker room looked and sounded like a wake as guys sat silently at their lockers, some staring blankly ahead, others head in hands.
The bad news is that with four weeks left and a bye week coming, there’s a real chance for a team-wide checkout factor now looming even more than it was before.