Colts, Taylor Break New England Patriots on the Ground, 27-17

The Indianapolis Colts have defeated the New England Patriots on Saturday night, 27-17, using Bill Belichick’s recipe.

Frank Reich put the football in Jonathan Taylor’s hands, and ran throughout the entire game. In the end, the Colts destroyed the Patriots’ rush defense, winning an extremely important match in their chase for the playoffs.

“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.”

Indianapolis was up 20-0 until the start of the final period. That was when the Pats began pounding and coming back. In no time, the guests from Foxborough were back in the game, scoring 17 straight points.

However, Taylor stepped up, providing a miraculous 67-yard breakaway, that sealed the match in the hosts’ favor with two minutes to go. The best rusher in the league had 29 carries on Saturday, racking up 170 yards and one score. He was by far the most important factor on the field.

Overall, the Colts had 236 rushing yards, with Ashton Dulin and Carson Wentz adding some as well. Once mentioning Wentz, he had a pale game, with only 57 passing yards, 5-for-12 for one TD, and one pick. That one TD toss ended up in Nyheim Hines’ arms.

We need to credit the Colts’ defense, too. They did a marvelous job of restraining the Pats. Mac Jones was picked twice, and even though he moved the chains and the football down the field better than the home team, in the end, the guest ended up on the losing side. Darius Leonard and Bobby Okereke intercepted the Pats’ rookie QB.

“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,” said Jones.

On the other side, the Patriots relied upon passing more than rushing in this event. They had 299 passing and 81 rushing yards, which wasn’t the case in previous games. Rhamondre Stevenson had a team-high 36 yards on the ground, which is miserable.

Jonathan Taylor was FLYING.

That's the fastest speed by a ballcarrier this season 💨 pic.twitter.com/12xk3SRAAp

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 19, 2021

Jones threw for 299 yards for two touchdowns, and two mentioned picks. His primary target was Hunter Henry, who had 77 receiving yards with two TDs. N’Keal Harry caught two for 52, while Kendrick Bourne and Jacoby Meyers had 44 each.

With this loss, the Pats are still leading the AFC East, but they gave a chance to the shaky Bills to cut the gap between them after this round. Also, with 9-5, they are no longer atop the conference, because the Bills have 10-5.

Up next is the most important game of the year for the young Pats, who host the Buffalo Bills at Gillette. After that, they have an easy task against the Jaguars also at home before finishing the year in Miami against the Dolphins.

The Colts are 8-6 and still have chances to reach the Titans in the AFC South. This win was worth gold for them because they are still in the playoff hunt, and their chances of getting into the postseason are even better than before. Indianapolis heads for Arizona to meet the Cardinals, then hosts the Las Vegas Raiders before visiting the Jaguars in the last round.