The New England Patriots pummeled the Indianapolis Colts 26-3 on Sunday. Here’s a closer look at how each position group fared in that Week 9 matchup:
QUARTERBACK: C+
It’s been difficult to assign blame for the anemic offensive performances we’ve seen from the Patriots in recent weeks. Is it the offensive line’s fault? Is Matt Patricia’s play-calling the problem? Is Mac Jones the primary culprit?
Jones certainly deserves his fair share. He did break his streak of seven consecutive games with an interception on Sunday, but he has yet to resemble the confident, poised, promising rookie we saw for most of last season. Jones averaged just 4.9 yards per attempt against the Colts, the second-lowest full-game mark of his career. He scrambled into more than one sack. He appeared to not notice open receivers on multiple dropbacks that resulted in either incompletions or minimal gains. He was just 2-for-6 on passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield, per Pro Football Focus.
But Jones also faced pressure on 38% of his dropbacks for the second consecutive week. It’s hard for any QB to succeed under those circumstances, especially one, like Jones, who is not a top-tier athlete.
Do the Patriots need more from the leader of their offense? Absolutely. Jones’ play so far this season won’t be good enough against better opponents that New England can’t bludgeon defensively and on special teams. But to have a chance of engineering such a turnaround, they first must fix the problems in front of him. More on those below.
RUNNING BACKS: B
Rhamondre Stevenson has almost singlehandly kept the Patriots’ run game afloat over these last two games, gaining ground with his elusiveness and vision behind a leaky offensive line. He wasn’t as productive as he was against the New York Jets, when he racked up 143 yards from scrimmage, but his 60 rushing yards and 4.0 yards-per-carry average were solid marks given the poor blocking he had to work with.
Stevenson also hauled in a one-handed catch at the goal line to score the game’s lone offensive touchdown. Several other attempts to match him up against linebacker Bobby Okereke in the passing game were unsuccessful, and he finished with a modest three receptions on seven targets for 10 yards.
Damien Harris sat out with an illness, bumping J.J. Taylor — freshly promoted from the practice squad — up to RB2. Taylor mostly was a nonfactor in his first 17 snaps of the season (10 carries, 9 yards) but did prevent a late-game turnover with an excellent hustle play:
TIGHT ENDS: B-
Jones’ two longest completions — and the Patriots’ only two 20-plus-yard gains of the day — came on passes to his big-money tight ends. Jonnu Smith picked up 24 yards on a well-executed screen play, and Jones hit Hunter Henry for 30 yards up the seam. All told, this was the second-most productive game of the season for the duo, which says more about their overall usage and output through nine games. Henry caught all four of his targets for a team-high 50 yards, and Smith had three catches on four targets for 21 yards, with his other two grabs losing yardage.
The two still have just one touchdown between them this season (by Henry in Week 6), and Patricia’s lack of two-tight end usage was puzzling given the Colts’ struggles against that personnel grouping.
WIDE RECEIVERS: C-
Top wideout Jakobi Meyers converted three third downs, including one on a gadget play that called for him to come in motion and take a direct under-center snap for a QB sneak. Meyers led all Patriots pass-catchers with five receptions for 42 yards and nearly made what would have been a superb sideline catch on a dangerous Jones pass, but he also lost his first fumble of the season.
Injured starter DeVante Parker missed the game with a knee injury, and New England’s depth options again failed to pick up the slack, with Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Nelson Agholor and elevated practice squadder Lynn Bowden combining for just four catches on eight targets for 16 yards. Bourne dropped a third-down pass on the Patriots’ opening drive and later fumbled, with Taylor recovering. Thornton couldn’t haul in one low throw from Jones that hit him in the hands. Agholor and Bowden played 21 and 14 snaps, respectively, and weren’t targeted.
Parker’s injury has limited him to one snap over the last two games. In his absence, New England’s non-Meyers wideouts have totaled six receptions for 61 yards.
OFFENSIVE LINE: D+
The Patriots need to hope David Andrews’ impending return from his concussion can help stabilize this group. Because things have been downright ugly in his absence.
Rookie Cole Strange, who plays to Andrews’ left, has been benched in back-to-back games after looking like a serviceable and improving starter for the previous month-plus. Isaiah Wynn replaced him after two series on Sunday and wasn’t much better, with Strange eventually reentering the game late in the fourth quarter. New England now must decide whether to stick with its first-round draft pick — permanently removing Strange from the starting lineup would be a tough pill to swallow — or officially convert Wynn to a starting left guard. Regardless, having a healthy Andrews back should help whoever’s in that spot.
Andrews can’t fix the problems at right tackle, however, which have persisted throughout the season. Yodny Cajuste became the third player to start a game there (joining Wynn and Marcus Cannon, who now is on injured reserve), and though he had some positive moments as a downfield blocker, the seldom-used 2019 third-rounder allowed a team-high five pressures and one sack. We’ll see if he impressed the coaching staff enough to earn himself another start.
James Ferentz, Mike Onwenu and Trent Brown had cleaner pass-blocking performances, but the line again struggled across the board in the run game, rarely giving Stevenson much room to operate. The Patriots had 11 carries that went for 1, zero or negative yards, and 92.9% of their rushing yards came after contact, per PFF. Strange, Wynn and Brown also all were called for penalties.
Finding a way to repair this unit needs to be the Patriots’ No. 1 priority during their bye week.
DEFENSIVE LINE: A-
The Patriots have O-line issues, clearly. But at least they aren’t the Colts, whose once-formidable line suddenly has morphed into one of the NFL’s worst this season. Couple that with an injury to Jonathan Taylor that kept the star running back out of this game, and Indianapolis got consistently manhandled up front.
This was a strong game for veteran Lawrence Guy, who caved in half of the Colts’ O-line on a third-and-1 stop and brought pressure on a sack that was split between Deatrich Wise and linebacker Jahlani Tavai. It was one of a franchise record-tying nine sacks the Patriots landed on quarterback Sam Ehlinger, who was thrown to the wolves in his second career start. Nineteen of Indy’s 78 rushing yards came on an Ehlinger scramble in garbage time, with New England not allowing a run longer than 5 yards to any Colts running back.
Only a pair of penalties knocked down this grade, as Daniel Ekuale was flagged once for roughing the passer and again for encroachment.
LINEBACKERS: A
Matthew Judon was an unblockable ball of destruction for the second straight week, sacking Ehlinger three times to up his NFL-leading season total to 11 1/2. No other player has more than 8 1/2. Judon, who’s on pace to break Andre Tippett’s single-season franchise record of 18 1/2 sacks and threaten the NFL record of 22 1/2 shared by Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt, also drew an illegal hands-to-the-face penalty and had another would-be sack wiped out by Ekuale’s personal foul.
The Patriots also got three sacks from the emerging Josh Uche. On his third, Uche showed the type of control and recognition that’s eluded him at points in his career, stopping his rush early and dropping Ehlinger as the QB tried to scramble upfield.
Co-captain Ja’Whaun Bentley earned postgame shoutouts from multiple teammates after he bagged one sack and logged eight tackles, including three run stuffs. Jahlani Tavai split a sack with Wise and had a QB hit off an interior blitz that helped force a deep completion. Raekwon McMillan ran directly over rookie tackle Bernhard Raimann to notch a sack of his own. Mack Wilson didn’t join the sack party but did nearly decapitate Colts returner Keke Coutee on a punt return.
Banner day all around for this bunch, which did not play down to its overmatched competition.
SECONDARY: A
The unrelenting pressure coupled with Ehlinger’s inexperience made this an easy afternoon on the back end for the Patriots. No New England defender allowed more than two catches or 25 yards in coverage, per PFF.
Jalen Mills was especially impressive, pitching a shutout on five targets with two pass breakups, plus a run stuff. Jonathan Jones intercepted a tipped pass off a Colts tight end’s fingers and returned it 17 yards for a touchdown. Rookie Jack Jones surrendered Indy’s only 20-plus yard gain when he got caught in traffic chasing Alec Pierce, the rest of his game was clean, and he dished out a heavy hit to break up a short pass to running back Jordan Wilkins.
Speaking of heavy hits, safety Jabrill Peppers continued to use his “Incredible Hulk” physicality as a run defender, including suplexing a ball-carrier to the turf on one play and decking another in the backfield on third-and-1. Adrian Phillips was stout in that area, as well. Devin McCourty contributed two PBUs, and Myles Bryant added one from his slot corner position.
The Patriots’ secondary has been a strength of the team this season, but the true tests for this unit are looming. After a post-bye rematch with the Jets, they’ll face the Minnesota Vikings (Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, T.J. Hockenson) and Buffalo Bills (Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Gabriel Davis) in consecutive weeks to kick off their daunting home stretch.
SPECIAL TEAMS: A-
This game was personal for special teams coaches Cam Achord and Joe Houston, who reminded their players all week about how Indianapolis “dominated” last year’s matchup. Those messages had the desired effect. This time, it was the Patriots who excelled in the kicking game, getting a 4-for-4 showing on field goals from Nick Folk, two strong returns from rookie Marcus Jones and, most notably, a blocked punt by Jonathan Jones off a well-timed and well-designed rush by Achord. Brenden Schooler recovered at the Colts’ 2-yard line, setting up Stevenson’s score.
It was the second consecutive impressive performance by New England’s special teams, which are beginning to round into form after a rocky start to the season. Jake Bailey’s struggles have persisted, though. After an encouraging showing against the Jets, the Patriots’ former All-Pro punter had multiple shanks on Sunday, including ones that traveled just 36 and 7 (yes, 7) yards.
