Game Day Thread Official Post Game Thread- Colts beat the Pats

[HetfieldFogerty]

Mac was definitely off tonight. Behind on throws or just complete misses. Definitely a learning game for him.

This game was his first taste of playoff football (even if it wasn’t the playoffs). Very good experience for him…

 

[VectorPrime]

Because, maybe ... just maybe, poor practice precedes poor games, and good weeks of practice leads to victories.

Nah, can't be that.

We have never heard of and will never hear of the weeks of practices where the players didn’t really give a damn but went out and beat the Jets by 40.

 

[hellolin]

Indy looked good, they wanted more, we came out pretty flat. TBH Indy seems to be a pretty good team and they are in contest to win their division, so don't write them out. JT looks like a young LT out there, and his numbers proves that. Pats lost to one of the best teams in AFC, and I'd say Indy can beat the bills and Ravens easily, maybe not the Chiefs.

 

[Marko]

Btw, I can’t believe that abomination of a hit on Harry was not a 15 yard penalty. Looked like something out of 1983 and it was a black eye to the officiating tonight.

Harry’s big reception was a big time play for him tonight. Hopefully he can build off of that and increase his success as a blocker to the receiving side of the game.

Agreed, I was kind of hoping he would get the TD after the catch to maybe get him some confidence. It kills me to think that if you breathed on a Colt for 10 years it was a penalty.

 

[Deus Irae]

Overall the run defense and the defense in general was good enough for the Pats to win.

Not counting the end of half faux-drive, the defense gave up 2 scores (10 points) on 3 first half drives. In the second half, it surrendered the game killing 67 yard TD run. It did not play well enough to win, and that's reflected on the scoreboard.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Agreed, I was kind of hoping he would get the TD after the catch to maybe get him some confidence. It kills me to think that if you breathed on a Colt for 10 years it was a penalty.

Right, I wanted him to score as well to help dissolve the negative fan energy around the guy.

Hate seeing a one sided penalty affair on just one team. Tbh Pats are usually on the other side of the spectrum in the bad penalty department. They missed some on the Colts tonight, but overall they seemed to play a pretty clean game. Really didnt see a lot of obvious penalties while watching. Wasn’t too fond of sone of the tic tak penalties called on the Pats though. Most were deserved though.

 

[Deus Irae]

TBH Indy seems to be a pretty good team and they are in contest to win their division, so don't write them out.

The Colts were a good team last year, and are a good team this year. They started off having to rebuild Wentz, and playing the Seahawks (when healthy), Rams, and Titans to start off the season, putting them in an 0-3 hole. They've gone 8-3 since then, with those losses being against the Bucs, Ravens, and Titans (and the Ravens and Titans losses were OT losses).

They are a legitimate threat.

 

[catent]

We have never heard of and will never hear of the weeks of practices where the players didn’t really give a damn but went out and beat the Jets by 40.

Why would you expect players to focus their mental energy, following a victory, on a poor week of practice preceding said victory?

 

[Pats1971]

We beat this team even with his good play if we don't make all the mental mistakes.

Yeah thats every football game in the world.

 

[Pats1971]

This was their Super Bowl

A bit surprised Bill didn't have the team more salty and ready for this...a little too fat & happy after the streak

Maybe the pats should have treated it like a big game too.

 

[VectorPrime]

The “this was their super bowl” phenomenon only makes sense when it’s a crappy team that then losses their next 8 games. The Colts are actually good.

 

[Pats1971]

The “this was their super bowl” phenomenon only makes sense when it’s a crappy team that then losses their next 8 games. The Colts are actually good.

Exactly. This was a big game for both teams, one team acted like it and one team should have acted like it.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

This game was his first taste of playoff football (even if it wasn’t the playoffs). Very good experience for him…

NFL playoff football, perhaps.

 

[oceansizer]

Every loss hurts and no matter how well we played in second half we still lost that game. However I am glad we are still discussing who we will play in the playoffs instead of pondering who we will take in a draft lottery.
I bet not many of us thought we would be considered as a playoff team with Mac in year one.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I feel like the defensive gameplan was kind of backwards. Pats looked like they wanted to stop the pass and let the Colts run all they want. That strategy backfired big time.

Carson Wentz did not pass the ball well, why were you not stacking 10 men on the line of scrimmage with 3 linebackers instead of for instance getting gashed on the final Taylor TD run with a cover 2 look when you KNEW they were only going to run the ball to eat up clock?

I know that Taylor is a gifted RB, but damn did he make Hightower look slow and lumbering on that one quick cut and gone TD run to seal the game. What this defense lacks is that sideline to sideline linebacker that we haven't had since the days of Jerod Mayo. I know it's sometimes nice to plug in beefy 250 lb linebackers, BB loves the big boys, but sometimes you need someone who can move swiftly in lateral pursuit and also make the sure handed tackle.

Probably a bit of oversimplification here but the Pats looked shaky from the very start. It's as if they had a bad week of practice that just carried over into the game. Rusty, nonexistent offense to start played into the hands of the Colts in the first half, a terrible special teams gaffe that allowed a blocked punt for a TD, and then an interception near the end of the first half that yielded 0 points on a good looking drive where Mac somehow completely missed the presence of the lurking linebacker who undercut his throw and easily snared an INT on a pass that should have never been thrown.

Those missed points loomed large in the second half where the Pats had actually closed the gap to 7 points, when the backbreaking Taylor TD run happened, and then later the offense stalled and could only cut the Colts lead to 10.

It's a big letdown loss for the Pats. This makes the 2nd Buffalo game an even more important must-win to secure the division title. And this most likely means the Pats are not getting the bye with the Chiefs and Titans both ahead of them at the minute. What do you think went wrong, was it the gameplan or was it the preparation?

It's weird to say this but the Patriots looked like the less disciplined team today, and their mistakes in key moments played a huge part in the loss. ST usually a strength, not so today. Run defense, we got gashed. Offense was inconsistent and couldn't really run the ball with any authority either. QB play, Mac is usually good at not hurting the team, he finally made rookie mistakes in big moments today albeit still passing for nearly 300 yards. The Colts deserved the win, the Patriots certainly did not. Pats need to play 100% better and cut out the mistakes against the Bills next week if we want to hold onto the Division title race.

 

[amfootball]

Low energy to start the game...mental mistakes, physical mistakes, a couple of bad rookie QB reads...surprised our Pats didn't get run out of the stadium. Post game Mac related that the team had a real bad week of practice. This team CANNOT afford to make the mental and physicals mistakes it made tonight and expect to go anywhere in the playoffs. The focus right now is MAKE the playoffs and to do that they need to re-focus and cut out the mental errors. Indy really needed this game and they showed it, especially in the 1st half where they bullied the Pats all over the field. I liked how they battled back and I thought for sure they'd make a stop at 1:58, 2nd down and 8. Haven't seen the slo-mo replay yet of what happened on the line except that the safeties were up in the box to STOP the run, and he hits a crease. I want to SEE what happened along the line on that play...I have my suspicions.

I'm not going to chicken little and cast blame and aspersions like some particular football morons in this thread. I'm looking forward to the Buffalo game. It's all right in front of this team and I expect a much better performance from them. I hope the WR's coach is on Agholor all week to run all out every play. He pizzes me off.

Strange in many ways that the team had a bad week of practice coming off the bye. Not typical at all for Bill's teams.

 

[PScottman]

Hopefully Harris is good to go in a week.

The entire NFL is trending toward having zero player availability stability the next few weeks. An unpredictable, highly unstable roster with COVID will expose likely every teams' depth going into the playoffs. Our win/loss prognosticators should take that into account as not only injuries, but quarantine protocols affect rosters.

 

[PaulThePat]

As it was an overnight game for me I didn't watch it live. Saw we'd lost but still watched the highlights. Have to say the run-D was frustrating, as were the 2 picks BUT I liked our fight from 20 zip down. In a compressed highlight format you saw a lot of great passes from Jones - the kid didn't fold his tent after the picks and went down swinging. Annoying TD at the end killed our chances of a late win but fair play to Indy who are a good team and in sport it is ok to lose to good teams from time to time. Looking forward to the Bills game. Could be a classic.

 

[PScottman]

It's weird to say this but the Patriots looked like the less disciplined team today, and their mistakes in key moments played a huge part in the loss. ST usually a strength, not so today. Run defense, we got gashed. Offense was inconsistent and couldn't really run the ball with any authority either. QB play, Mac is usually good at not hurting the team, he finally made rookie mistakes in big moments today albeit still passing for nearly 300 yards. The Colts deserved the win, the Patriots certainly did not. Pats need to play 100% better and cut out the mistakes against the Bills next week if we want to hold onto the Division title race.

They looked like a team that believed their press clippings from the Bills game of a superior defense and able to push any opposing defense around. Then they got punched in the face, staggered, and only started to come out of their stupor when the game clock ran out.

The next game tells the tale of what they truly have - are they able to return to the confident, but focused and disciplined team that won several games straight or the scattered, unsure one that stumbled to a 2-4 start? Or somewhere in between?

 

[StanleyGrogan]

Without wishing to diminish the disappointment of this defeat, the significant disappointment, as our good friend Green LoCo(w) pointed out, its next week that is for all the marbles. If we had won last night and lose next week we still would probably have to win out. If we win next week I say we are home and hosed, barring a disaster against Jacksonville. I was encouraged about how we put three ugly quarters aside and kept it interesting to the end. Lets hope this will light a fire under the team because the first 3 qs last night were shocking.