Patriots Finally Getting The Job Done Results in Key Victory

FOXBOROUGH — After four weeks of playing to almost win, this playing just well enough to win stuff isn’t too bad.

Proving more and more that the first four weeks were more aberration than the true barometer of this football team, the Patriots went out and beat the pants off the preseason division favorites. True, Indianapolis does rather lousy in this soon-to-be-demolished twin concrete slab mausoleum, but nobody in Patriot Nation was complaining about the final result or how the Patriots looked in getting there.

Patriot teammates mob Tony Simmons, who just hauled in a 44-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final play of the first half. The Patriots defeated Indianapolis today, 24-16.(AP Photo)
The Patriots laid a 24-16 whuppin’ on the Colts today. Combine that with their breakthrough 28-19 win last week in Denver, and you have a team that is on the verge of getting back into this AFC East race despite an 0-4 start. And with the Jets coming here next week (who got beat today at home by Pittsburgh), the Patriots are in a real position to turn this season from lost to barely twitching to fully resuscitated.

Today’s win was a decisive one, but it wasn’t a total capitulation on the Colts’ part. By the same token, it also wasn’t a total manhandle job by the Patriots. They’ll naturally take the win, but Bill Belichick will have some things to go over this week when the game films come in.

The Patriots won anyway thanks to their defensive genius/head coach, their superstar quarterback in his ability to get things done when he had to, and some lucky breaks along the way that are finally going the way of the Patriots. When all is said and done, the Patriots can look back on today and be happy that they did beat a very good team, and that their season now looks rosy when it once looked bleak.

Boy, it’s hard to bag on these guys after a win. But hey, if you want to contend for a Vince Award someday, you gotta fix this stuff and make it better. Then, when it’s the real iron of the league you face, you’ll be ready for them instead of only thinking you’re ready.

For starters, the secondary play in the fourth quarter more than made up for some abyssmal play earlier in the game. Ty Law, who has done a total regress from his All-Pro form, was burned consistently by Marvin Harrison for most of the first three quarters. Law, like last year’s Colt clash at the Fox, gave way too much cushion to Harrison, and he paid for it.

On the touchdown that Harrison scored in the second quarter, he made Law look like Tebucky Jones trying to play cornerback. Law gave Harrison seven yards to start, Harrison broke inside, Law bit, then Harrison streaked outside towards the back corner of the end zone. Peyton Manning hit him, and Law was three yards away, gagging and huffing in trying to catch up.

Law did play tighter in the second half, except this time he started getting flagged for holding calls. On the first Colt drive of the fourth quarter, Law was flagged twice on Harrison, the second time practically ripping off Harrison’s jersey in full view of the TV cameras.

All penalties in this game for the Patriots were on the defense. Kato Serwanga committed a facemask with the Colts facing a second-and-14. Otis Smith negated a Greg Spires sack with a holding call on Terence Wilkins in the second quarter, and was flagged again for holding in the fourth stanza.

The Patriots were committing these penalties because they were not containing the many great receivers that Manning has at his disposal. Belichick’s zone scheme was working only when the front seven was able to rush Manning and put pressure. But when Peyton had time to throw, either the receivers were right there to haul them in, or they were held on the way.

The Patriot offense allowed three sacks of Bledsoe today, none of which proved costly, just annoying. What was more annoying was what turned out to be poor clock management in the fourth quarter. The Patriots had caused Indianapolis to burn their time outs, but their final three offensive possessions featured three incomplete passes, which gave Indianapolis plenty of time to kick a late, albeit meaningless, field goal to make the final margin eight points. Still, the Colts should never have been in a position to kick that field goal.

We said all this to set up the good stuff that follows. Your boys really played well today, folks. We just want you all to know what they overcame today to post this win over the Colts.

The Patriots did pretty well to be trailing only 10-3 as the first half drew to a close. After Mike Van Der Jagt kicked a 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in the half to give the Colts the seven point cushion, Tony Simmons took the kickoff and scampered 39 yards to the Colt 44. Three seconds were left in the half.

Michael Bishop came in for three plays today. Two of them were good. This was one of them.

Bishop drops back about nine steps, and fires a deep fly ball towards the right corner of the end zone. Simmons is down there with three Colt defenders all around him. Undaunted, Simmons merely outjumped all three of them and made the catch as time expired in the half. The Patriots went into the locker room tied at 10, and everyone was giddy with shock and disbelief. But few people bothered to notice that Bishop had laid the Hail Mary bomb perfectly right into Simmons’ hands. To those who decry the fact that Drew Bledsoe can’t throw the long one, take note.

The Colts came out of halftime with one thing on their mind: ball control. Looking like the Minnesota Vikings, except better, the Colts opened the second half with an astonishing 23-play drive that consumed 10:19 of the third quarter. The Colts converted three third downs and one fourth down along the way.

But here is why this was the turning point in the game, and not the Bishop bomb. You see, the Patriots were able to stop the Colts at the Patriot 16, forcing a field goal attempt (which was good). The Colts had the ball all that time and for all those plays, but this mammoth drive turned into a huge positive for the Patriots in that the Colts only came away with three points.

It was also at this time that Manning stopped completing passes. Beginning with first and goal at the 7 on the long drive, Manning would misfire on twelve of his next fourteen passes, two of which were interceptions. The Patriots turned up the pressure dial on Manning, and a combination of tight coverage and dropped balls were what did in Manning and his teammates in the fourth quarter.

Bledsoe, meanwhile, took the Pats back the other way following the long Colt drive. Kevin Faulk ran for 29 yards on four carries, then Bledsoe found Troy Brown for 10 yards and J.R. Redmond for 20 yards (he can’t run, but boy, he sure can catch), putting the Pats on the Colt 2.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, on second and goal, Bledsoe dropped back and found a Colt right in his face. Bledsoe then turned into Dave Cowens, and lobbed a hook shot right around the Colt defender and into the arms of Eric Bjornson in the end zone. The Pats had the lead for good at 17-13. There is no truth to the rumour that Rick Pitino intended to give Bledsoe a buzz after the game.

On the next drive, the Patriots were faced with a fourth down and 2 at the Colt 22. Adam Vinatieri came in to try a 39-yard field goal, but it never came off. Before the Colt field goal defense could set, Lee Johnson took a quick snap and tossed a quick right flat pass to a wide open Bjornson. He lumbered down to the Colt 4.

The fake field goal flustered the Colts, and they never recovered. Terry Glenn caught a touchdown on the next play, making the catch at the very back of the end zone with both heels barely in bounds. It was 24-13 Patriots, and despite plenty of time left, that was pretty much it.

Manning would help seal the deal with his three picks. Ted Johnson tipped a Manning pass, and Law was able to scoop up the errant throw, which sent the Pats on their fake field goal drive. Two drives later, Manning faced third and ten at his 21, and heaved a deep ball under pressure. The underthrown ball, intended for Wilkins deep down the middle, was picked off by Tebucky Jones. On the next Colt possession, rookie Antwan Harris foiled a late Colt comeback with a pick at the Patriots’ 10.

And the Patriots were able to hang on for the win despite the late field goal.

This was a case of the Patriots doing exactly what they needed to do to win the game. They won despite a monster day by Harrison (13 catches, 159 yards, one TD) and six catches each by Wilkins and Jerome Pathon. They won despite Law seemingly forgetting how to be an All-Pro cover corner. They won despite Bledsoe not really adjusting to a Colt corner blitz scheme all day.

This is exactly what the Patriots weren’t doing in the first four games. Each game was winnable, and each was lost because the big plays weren’t made. Today, they were. The Patriots now have the confidence they lacked in September.

They’ll need every bit of that confidence, as the annoying Jets come to town next week. They’ll have to learn from their close Monday night loss in Week 2, and remember what it took to win these last two weeks.

At least the team has rediscovered how to win, and what it takes to get it done.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

About Bob George

Covering Boston Sports since 1997. Native of Worcester, Mass. Attended UMass and Univ of Michigan. Lives in California. Just recently retired after 40 years of public school teaching. Podcasts on YouTube at @thepic4139

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