The Indianapolis Colts are .500 on the season and have earned their first international win in franchise history after slugging out a 10-6 victory over the New England Patriots in Frankfurt, Germany.
Overall, this was a low-scoring affair between these two AFC clubs. Each team put up points on their opening possessions and that ultimately proved to be the key difference. While the Patriots tacked on a field goal, the Colts handed the ball off to Jonathan Taylor on a fourth-down attempt from the 1-yard line and converted for a touchdown. From that point, a fourth-quarter field goal put away New England, which struggled mightily on offense.
Things did heat up down the stretch after the Patriots brought themselves within a point with a 15-play, 89-yard field goal drive to begin the fourth quarter. Indy responded with a field goal drive of their own to go up by four, which was largely sparked by a 42-yard kickoff return by wideout Isaiah McKenzie. On the next Patriots possession following the Colts' field goal, Mac Jones and the offense brought the ball all the way to the Indianapolis 13-yard line before the quarterback threw a back-breaking interception to Julian Blackmon. Not only did that eliminate the scoring chance, but allowed the Colts to chew off a chunk of clock.
That turnover then sent Jones to the bench and thrust Bailey Zappe into the game to close it out. Jones finished his game completing 15 of his 20 passes for 170 yards and that crucial pick. On the final drive for New England, Zappe completed three of his six pass attempts and tossed a game-ending interception in triple coverage.
Meanwhile, Gardner Minshew showed tremendous poise in the pocket, completing 18 of his 28 throws in the win for 194 yards and an interception. Jonathan Taylor rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown while Michael Pittman caught eight of his 12 targets for 84 yards.
Why the Colts won
Indy's opening-drive touchdown did prove to be the difference in this game and it was a somewhat gutsy call by first-year head coach Shane Steichen to keep his offense on the field on fourth down. He was rewarded by Jonathan Taylor, who bounced out to the right side of the field to barrel in for the score. Against a lowly Patriots offense, that lone touchdown was the necessary cushion en route to victory. Beyond that score, Gardner Minshew's pocket presence was stellar at times in this game. He moved around in the pocket to extend plays and made a number of superb throws in the process. One of them came on that opening touchdown drive where he kept his eyes down the field while running up the pocket to eventually connect with Isaiah McKenzie on third-and-6:
Similar plays continued throughout the contest, including another third-and-6 throw from inside his own 5-yard line where he hit rookie Josh Downs for a diving catch that helped Indy burn more clock:
Of course, the defense was massive in this winning effort as well. The unit stifled the Patriots offense throughout the matchup, especially in the first half where they sacked Mac Jones five times and stopped New England on five of its third-down situations. While the bulk of the blame for Jones' red zone interception should go on the Patriots quarterback, it was still a heck of an effort by Julian Blackmon to haul in the turnover.
Why the Patriots lost
No matter which way you slice it, the Patriots failed. The club managed just two field goal drives that sandwiched being shut out in the second and third quarters. The passing game continues to struggle throwing the ball down the field and Mac Jones didn't even connect with a wide receiver until the seven-minute mark of the second quarter. In the second half, Jones overthrew Hunter Henry on what would have been a touchdown, but instead, the unit needed to settle for a field goal and still trailed by a point. On the following possession, the Patriots were again deep in the red zone and Jones again made an ill-advised pass to a tight end, only this target to Mike Gesicki came in short and was picked off by Julian Blackmon. That sent Jones to the bench as the last competitive gasp for the Patriots.
On defense, the unit was unable to pressure Gardner Minshew, who largely had all day to throw inside the pocket. New England didn't record a single sack in this losing effort and tallied just a single quarterback hit.
Meanwhile, special teams continue to be an issue for the Patriots. Bill Belichick made a bizarre decision in the first half to have no punt returner back on a second-quarter punt by the Colts. New England was unable to block the punt and the ball was downed at the 18-yard line. That proved to be too daunting of a distance for the offense, which proceeded to go three and out. Chad Ryland also missed a layup 35-yard field goal at the start of the second half, and the coverage team allowed a key 42-yard kickoff return by Isaiah McKenzie, which set up a field goal drive for the Colts in the fourth quarter.
Outside of the Patriots running game, which played well, this team had breakdowns at essentially every level.
Turning point
The back-breaking moment for the Patriots in this game -- and possibly the career of Jones -- was the quarterback's red zone interception in the fourth quarter. The Patriots were threatening to either take the lead or be down by a mere point when Jones faded back and underthrew an open Gesicki for what would have been the go-ahead touchdown. Instead, the ball was short of the goal line and picked off by Blackmon, which sent Jones to the bench for the remainder of the game and eliminated any realistic shot of the Patriots pulling off the comeback.
Play of the game
A couple of Minshew's scrambles in the pocket that he converted for first downs are worthy to be considered, but let's shine a light on the lone touchdown from this game. Taylor continues to trend in a positive direction and he finished his day with 69 yards on the ground, including the touchdown that proved to be the key score of the matchup.
Given that this game was on the international stage, let's hear the call in German!
What's next?
From here, both of these teams will be on the bye in Week 11. After that break, the Colts will host the Buccaneers at Lucas Oil Stadium, while the Patriots will travel to East Rutherford to face the Giants at MetLife Stadium.