Patriots-Colts What To Watch For: Will quarterbacks spend most of their day running?
BOSTON -- The Patriots are feeling pretty good about themselves after last Sunday's win in New Jersey. They can keep that good mojo flowing into their bye week with a win this weekend against the Indianapolis Colts in Foxboro.
The Patriots have a chance to go over .500 for the first time this season with a win over the 3-4-1 Colts on Sunday. New England's margin for error remains slim, both in games and on the schedule, so the team cannot afford another Bears-level slipup. If the Patriots lose on Sunday, to this Colts team, their postseason chances will be pretty bleak.
Who cares about style points anymore. Just win, get above .500, and hit the bye week on a high note.
Here's what we'll be watching for when the Patriots host the Colts on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Foxboro.
Mac Attack
Sunday will be Mac's third game back from his ankle injury, and he looked much better throughout the week on the practice field. Not only that, he looked a lot happier.
Perhaps this is the week he'll finally put it all together for the first time in his second NFL season. Surprisingly, he's looked comfortable as a runner, just not as a passer. He needs to become a more confident passer for everything to click in the New England offense.
Unfortunately, he'll probably be scrambling a lot again on Sunday, and a lot more RPOs will be in the game plan for Jones. David Andrews is set to miss his second straight game with a concussion, and with the questions at right tackle, the offensive line will likely be a bit of a mess again against a solid Indianapolis defensive line.
Hopefully the offensive line play isn't as messy as it was last Sunday, when Jones was sacked a career-high six times by the Jets. But with guys like DeForest Buckner and Yannick Ngakoue (four sacks apiece) and Kwity Paye (three sacks) getting after him, Mac won't have a lot of time to get rid of the ball. He'll be spending a good chunk of his Sunday afternoon running away from would-be tacklers.
Indy's New QB
The Matt Ryan experiment is over in Indy after the veteran threw nine interceptions and fumbled the ball three times over seven games. The Colts fired their offensive coordinator earlier this week, and former sixth-round pick Sam Ehlinger has been given the keys at quarterback.
Ehlinger made his first career start last week against Washington, and completed 17 of his 23 passes for 201 yards. He was sacked twice, and lost a fumble on one of them. He also ran for 15 yards on six carries, three of which were designed runs.
Expect more designed runs for Ehlinger -- a solid dual-threat QB in college at Texas -- this weekend, the kind of plays that New England has struggled to defend. Just think of a few weeks ago when Justin Fields torched the Patriots for 82 yards on the ground.
The good news is that Ehlinger is not Justin Fields. He doesn't run away from defenders, and instead runs into them. The 6-foot-1, 222-pound QB is more of a power runner than a finesse guy. And a lot of the running this weekend could fall on his legs, with lead back Jonathan Taylor out for the game.
The Patriots will have to limit what Ehlinger does on the ground and hope to force him into making throws, similar to what they did against Zach Wilson last weekend. If they can make an inexperienced passer take shots downfield, then the New England defense may enjoy similar results to their three-pick afternoon against the Jets last Sunday.
Return of Gilmore
Stephon Gilmore will be back at Gillette Stadium for the first time since he was traded by the Patriots in 2020. The Super Bowl LIII champ and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year is sure to get a rousing ovation when he takes the field as a visitor.
And when the game gets going, Mac Jones knows he's in for a difficult matchup with Gilmore lining up on the other side.
"He looks great out there. He's just a great cornerback. Still is," Jones said of Gilmore on Wednesday. "You can tell they're putting him out there, and he's locking down the guys for the most part. Just covering them one-on-one. Just doing his thing. He's definitely still a premiere cornerback."
Gilmore has an interception, four passes defended, and 29 tackles so far this season. Jones relies heavily on Jakobi Meyers to make things go in the passing game, but he's going to have to spread the love with Gilmore and Kenny Moore roaming the defensive backfield for Indy. Maybe tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith will finally break out in the passing game, though they're going to be asked to do a lot of blocking as well on Sunday.
PUNTS!
Do you like special teams? This may be the Game of the Week for you!
With neither offense firing on all cylinders to start the season, both the Colts and the Patriots have punted the ball away quite a bit the last two months. The Colts rank first in the NFL with 21 punts, while the Patriots are tied for fifth with 17.
Jake Bailey and Matt Haack should be ready for a heavy workload on Sunday.
We saw just how important special teams are when these two teams met last season, when the Colts blocked a New England punt that led to an early touchdown. The Colts used their kicking game to flip the field on the Patriots on a few other occasions that night, and handed the Patriots a crushing 27-17 defeat.
With the Colts likely punting a handful of times on Sunday, Marcus Jones should have plenty of chances to add to his ever-growing return yard total. The rookie has 140 yards on his 10 punt returns, and his 32-yard return late in the third quarter against the Jets last weekend set up a much-needed New England field goal.
WBZ-TV has you covered for Sunday's Patriots-Colts game! Pregame coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, with the Pats and the Colts set to kick things off at 1 p.m. After the game, switch over to TV38 for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter!
