INDIANAPOLIS -- The New England Patriots knew the Indianapolis Colts' intentions entering Saturday night’s game at Lucas Oil Stadium: take away the running game, put the ball in rookie quarterback Mac Jones’ hands, and see what he does with it.
Jones had arguably his worst half as a pro, as the Patriots dug themselves too big of a hole -- down 17 at halftime -- to recover in a 27-17 loss to the Colts.
This will be a question the Patriots now have to answer down the homestretch: When the running game isn’t churning out yards, and they fall behind early, can a Jones-led passing game bring them back?
Jones threw his first red zone interception of the season late in the second quarter (linebacker Darius Leonard with the pick), which capped off a disastrous first half for the Patriots. It was Jones’ first red zone interception of the season. The only quarterbacks with more passes without a red zone interception entering the week were Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Kirk Cousins and Matt Ryan.
Then Jones threw another pick on the first drive of the third quarter.
“I just threw it right to him. It was a good play. But unacceptable," Jones said. "You can’t win until you stop from losing. I mean, I handed the ball to the guy. I did that twice and that hurt us. I thought the defense played pretty well, and I just shot them in the foot myself by giving them the short field and giving them the ball. That’s my fault and I’ll learn from it. But I’m not going to be gun shy or anything. Just learn from it and move on.”
The mistakes were uncharacteristic, as Jones had thrown a total of two interceptions in the seven wins leading into Saturday night. But the difference in those games is that the Patriots didn’t find themselves in such a compromising position early, forcing them into a pass-first mode.
Jones and the Patriots played better in the second half, but the margin for error was thin.
How much of it was different looks that the Colts were showing and their high level of play? And how much of it was just poor Patriots execution?
“I don’t think it was our best effort," said Jones. "It starts with me, just throughout the week, we didn’t have a great practice every day. It is what it is. You just have to move on, because no one is going to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Blocked punt: The Patriots had a Jake Bailey punt blocked and recovered in the end zone for a touchdown in the first quarter. It marked Bailey’s third blocked punt of the season. No other punter has had more than one blocked. This was an early-season problem that showed up in the team’s 2-4 start but had been corrected in the seven-game win streak leading into Saturday night. How unusual has that been? The Patriots had a total of three punts blocked from 2010 to 2020.
Streak buster: Entering the game, the Patriots had scored in the first half in 89 consecutive games before being shut out Saturday, which was the longest streak by any team in the past 20 seasons.
Conservative call: Coach Bill Belichick's decision to kick a field goal to trim the deficit to 20-10 in the fourth quarter was conservative. ESPN's win probability model has that as a big missed opportunity. The model gave the Patriots a 9.5% chance to win by going for it, compared to 5.8% by kicking.