What To Watch For when Patriots "host" Colts in Germany

BOSTON -- At the very least, the Patriots seem to appreciate their change in surroundings.

Upon their arrival in Frankfurt on Friday, the Patriots -- led by Bill Belichick and Mac Jones -- certainly appeared loose and relaxed as they met with the assembled media. The lightened mood might be rare for a team with a 2-7 record that's lost five of its last six games, but the Patriots might have had their systems rebooted during their intercontinental travel.

Will that prove meaningful on Sunday, when they "host" the Colts in front of an international audience? It's hard to say. For now, here are four areas to watch when the game kicks off bright and early on Sunday morning.

Points

OK, this one may be a bit obvious, as nobody's ever watched a sporting event without looking at the scoreboard. But hear me out: If the Patriots want to win this one, they're going to have to reverse a couple of season-long trends for both teams.

The Colts have played nine games, and they've scored at least 20 points in all of them.

The Patriots have played nine games, and they've scored at least 20 points in ... two of them.

Complicating matters for the Patriots? They've held an opponent under 20 points ... just once. And that came against one of the very worst offenses in the NFL -- the Jets and Zach Wilson.

On the surface, we used to look at Bill Belichick going up against a rookie head coach and Gardner Minshew at QB and chalk it up as an automatic win for the Patriots. But the raw results from this season indicate we should be looking at things the other way for this game.

If the Patriots hope to win, they'll have to make some game-changing plays on defense or special teams, either flipping the field or scoring outright when the offense is on the sideline. Short of doing that, the Patriots might struggle to keep up with a Colts team that ranks seventh in the NFL in scoring.

Mac Going Deep

Mac Jones has gotten in the habit lately of offering compliments to reporters when they ask questions that he deems to be good ones. It happened on Friday when Jones was asked by a European reporter about the state of the offense. That reporter then followed up with a question about Jones' deep passing.

"I actually threw the ball pretty good last year deep, statistically, and there were some things that were good there," Jones said. "I want to do that every year. I like throwing the ball deep. I did it in college a lot, and I had a lot of success. It's definitely in my blood and I want to do that, so got to improve there and make it work."

Perhaps this week will offer an opportunity. Next Gen Stats shared on Friday that Jones has feasted when throwing against Cover 3, and the Colts run Cover 3 more than any other team.

Jones won't have DeVante Parker to throw to, as the receiver stayed home as he is still recovering from a concussion. Theoretical speedster Tyquan Thornton could be a candidate to be a healthy scratch, after he was benched mid-game last week, but the door could also open for rookie Kayshon Boutte to play for the first time since Week 1.

Obviously, it's an uphill struggle for Jones to thrive with this receiving corps, especially after Kendrick Bourne's injury. But with the Colts being vulnerable against the run and the pass, the Patriots could use the ground game to open up some opportunities in the passing game downfield.

More 'Mondre

Speaking of that running game, Rhamondre Stevenson is coming off his best game of the season ... though he oddly only got nine carries last week against Washington.

He should get more carries this week, with the Colts ranking 24th in rushing yards allowed per game and 16th in rushing yards allowed per attempt. They've also allowed 15 rushing touchdowns -- tied for most in the NFL -- so Ezekiel Elliott could prove useful down near the goal line.

Indy's Weapons

The Colts' top four producers on offense all will present problems for New England's defense.

Jonathan Taylor has come on strong after his late start to the season, as he's averaged 4.5 yards per carry and 72 yards per game on the ground over the past three weeks, while also catching nine passes for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Zack Moss, who was the starting running back before Taylor got up to full speed, averaged an incredible 111 yards per game from Weeks 2-5. Though his usage has dipped with the return of Taylor, he remains a threat out of the backfield when he does get the ball.

At receiver, Michael Pittman Jr. is the clear No. 1, as he leads the Colts in targets (86), receptions (58), receiving yards (593) and receiving touchdowns (3). With J.C. Jackson remaining stateside, it'll likely be a collaborative effort among Jack Jones (provided he doesn't miss curfew), Jonathan Jones, and Shaun Wade to try to limit the 6-foot-4 receiver.

And the Patriots could  also have their hands full with rookie Josh Downs. The third-round pick out of UNC was suffered a knee injury in Week 9 (1 catch, 10 yards), and though he didn't practice all week, he was listed as questionable for the game. He had averaged 6 receptions for 79 yards over the previous four weeks.

It's definitely not the best collection of offensive talent in the NFL, but with the Patriots' defense getting carved up by Sam Howell and losing to the Jimmy Garoppolo/Brian Hoyer tandem in recent weeks, this week still represents a challenge for New England's defense to keep the game within reach.