INDIANAPOLIS – For as much as ending their eight-game losing streak to the New England Patriots was important, Saturday’s 27-17 victory was more than that for the Colts.
The Colts not only beat the team that went into Week 15 with the No. 1 seed in the AFC, they also sent a message to the rest of the teams in the wide-open conference that they are capable of making a run in the playoffs. The victory was the Colts’ first over the Patriots since November 2009 when quarterback Peyton Manning was still in Indianapolis and Tom Brady in New England.
“I’m not surprised. Our players aren’t surprised,” Colts coach Frank Reich said. “There’s a lot of belief, a lot of conviction that we have the guys, we have the coaches, we have the process. Our M.O. from the start is if that’s really true, we’ll play our best football in November and December. … We’re the five seed. We have to win every one of these games. What we said in there, ‘This is a great team, but it counts for one.’ We have to dial it back in and get ready to play the best team in the NFL next Saturday [at Arizona Cardinals].”
The climb to their current position hasn’t been easy for the Colts. They opened the season with a 1-4 record, and had issues closing out games, blowing three double-digit leads against expected playoff teams (Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers).
“I always said back when we were 0-3 and 1-4, I kept saying we were continuing to get better,” linebacker Darius Leonard said. “People on the outside looking in weren’t seeing the adjustments we were making, and it continued to show each week, and finally everything is clicking and going the right way. Hopefully, we can keep going with great game plans and executing it.”
Now here the Colts sit, winners of five of their past six games, with two of those victories coming over teams currently in the playoffs – the Patriots and Buffalo Bills. In the matter of a little over a week, the Colts have gone from being on the outside of the playoff picture to the fifth seed in the AFC. They have the same record (8-6) as the Los Angeles Chargers, but the Colts hold the tiebreaker because they’re currently 7-3 in their conference. The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Colts because they go on the road to play a Christmas night game at the Cardinals (10-3).
Buy special teams: So much of the Colts' credit has rightfully gone to running back Jonathan Taylor and the defense’s ability to force turnovers (31), but their special teams unit has had an impact too. They blocked their second punt of the season when linebacker Matthew Adams crashed in from the right side to block a punt in the first quarter. The ball rolled into the end zone with E.J. Speed recovering it to give the Colts a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
That was the second blocked punt of the season for the Colts, with the other happening in Week 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which Speed also recovered for a touchdown. Speed is the first player since former Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed in 2003 to have two blocked punt touchdowns in a single season.
Promising trend: Taylor, the NFL's leading rusher, ended any possibility of a Patriots' comeback when he found just enough of a hole, with a little more than two minutes left the game, to break free for a 67-yard touchdown to seal the game for the Colts and add to the argument he deserves MVP consideration. Taylor has now topped the 100-yard rushing mark eight times this season. And guess what? The Colts are 8-0 in those games.
QB breakdown: It wasn’t one of Colts quarterback Carson Wentz’s finest moments of the season. And it wasn’t because Wentz finished 5-of-12 for 57 yards, which is the fewest by a Colts starter since Manning, who left after one series in Week 17 of the season 2006. It was because Wentz took some risky throws that could have hurt the Colts. The Patriots dropped two interceptions early against Wentz before he made a bad decision by forcing a throw that was tipped and intercepted in the fourth quarter. It’s that type of decision-making by Wentz, who has thrown six interceptions this season, that the Colts can’t afford down the stretch.