Jonathan Taylor broke off a long touchdown run with just over two minutes left on Saturday night, helping the Indianapolis Colts hold off a rally by the New England Patriots for a 27-17 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The loss for New England breaks their seven game win streak, falling to currently third in the AFC standings.
It was all Indianapolis early. On their second possession Taylor took a direct snap, handing it to quarterback Carson Wentz who then shuffled an underhand pass to Nyheim Hines who found the endzone from eight yards out to cap off a 78 yard drive for a 7-0 lead. Just 3:39 later when New England was forced to punt, punter Jake Bailey had his kick blocked by Matthew Adams at his own 20 yard line that would bounce into the endzone and was recovered by E.J. Speed to extend the Colts advantage to 14-0. The hosts would tack on a 25 yard Mike Badgley field goal in the second, and a late first half drive by the Patriots ended when Mac Jones was intercepted by Darius Leonard at the Indianapolis 6 yard line and it was 17-0 at the halftime break. The goose egg on the scoreboard in the first half by New England was the first time in 100 games that they didn’t put up any points in the first half of any game.
The second half started with another interception of Jones by Bobby Okereke at the New England 36. That led to another field goal by Badgley and it was 20-0 Indianapolis headed to the fourth quarter. The Patriots would finally get on the board by finishing off an 11 play, 76 yard drive that started late in the third and was capped off on the first play of the fourth. Jones would hit Hunter Henry for a 12 yard touchdown to cut it to 20-7. Devin McCourty came up with an interception of Wentz on the next Colts drive, but the guests had to settle for a 25 yard field goal by Nick Folk with nine minutes to play. The Patriots then forced a punt to get the ball back and would race quickly down the field in 9 plays that covered 74 yards in just 1:27. The key plays were a 20 yard pass from Jones to Kendrick Bourne, and a big passing play of 51 yards from Jones to N’Keal Harry to set it up at the Indianapolis 15 yard line. On third and goal, Jones hit Henry again this time for a seven yard score and it was 20-17 with 2:25 remaining. It took the Colts two plays to finish off the win with Taylor busting through the Patriots defense on second down at his own 33, going 67 yards to find pay dirt and help Indianapolis (8-6) break an eight game losing streak to New England.
Jones finished 26-45 passing on the night for 299 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Without Damien Harris the run game struggled only mustering 81 yards led by Rhamondre Stevenson who had 10 carries for 36 yards. Henry had six receptions for 77 yards and both New England touchdowns. Jakobi Meyers also had six catches. McCourty led the defense with five total tackles and an interception. Wentz was only 5-12 passing for 57 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the win for Indianapolis. The Colts rushed for 226 yards with 170 of those from Taylor on 29 attempts with the big touchdown that sealed the victory. Taylor now has 11 straight games with at least one rushing TD, tied for the third most in a single season in NFL history since 1950. Leonard was the defensive leader with eight total tackles and one interception. It was the first win for Indianapolis over New England since Week 10 of the 2009 season. The Patriots are now 9-5 and will face Buffalo at home next Sunday in another big AFC East clash.
