The Colts look like a speed bump in the path of the Patriots’ scoring machine
Welcome to Season 7, Episode 5 of the Unconventional Preview.
Welcome to Season 7, Episode 5 of the Unconventional Preview, a serious-yet-lighthearted, nostalgia-tinted look at the Patriots’ weekly matchup.
Well, that was more like it.
The Patriots entered Sunday’s surprisingly important Week 4 showdown with the 3-0 Miami Dolphins with a 1-2 record, a two-game losing streak (both by double digits), a defense that looked slow, undermanned, and disorganized, and an apparent major deficiency in offensive firepower. Other than that, all was well.
Sixty minutes later, the Patriots had a 31-point victory, the Dolphins looked like the biggest poseur to come to Gillette the 2009 Titans (who were waxed 59-0 in the snow), rookie running back Sony Michel (112 yards) embarrassed a couple of local radio hosts who disparaged him, and Josh Gordon needed just two catches to tantalize.
It was the kind of bounce-back after a loss – let alone two – that has come to be a definitive characteristic of the dynastic Patriots. We’ve seen it before, many times, in all of the don’t-write-us-off fury, and that was reassuring. We can also admit we weren’t sure it was still in them.
Four days after that reassuring and redemptive win, the Patriots take on the Indianapolis Colts, who have a 1-3 record (their one win coming in Week 2 against the Redskins), a rejuvenated and healthy Andrew Luck at quarterback, and probably no more than a half-dozen players you’ve heard of. If the Patriots can play like they did last week, we’ll be talking about two in a row again – and this time, wins, and not losses.
Kick it off, Gostkowski, and let’s get this one started.
Three players I’ll be watching not named Tom Brady
Julian Edelman: Funny how fast the Patriots have gone from appearing short-handed on offense to suddenly having an abundance of options, presuming everyone remains healthy. Against Miami, Michel ran like the first-round pick that he was, James White did all of those James White things that used to be Kevin Faulk things, Josh Gordon tantalized in his debut with two impressive catches … and now Edelman returns from his four-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy to allow the offense to properly align even better. With Brady’s Mr. Reliable, the king of getting 10 yards on third and 9, returning, now Chris Hogan and Phillip Dorsett can slot into more fitting roles, Rob Gronkowski won’t constantly be double-teamed without certain repercussions for the defense, and the rush to get Gordon fully acclimated can slow a little. Even if Edelman, at 32 and coming off a knee injury, isn’t as dynamic as he was before, it sure sounds like he’s ready to contribute in a major way. The Patriots offense was already improving without him. With him, it might just start to look like the outstanding and well-rounding scoring machine we are used to.
Andrew Luck: Considering he was still throwing undersized footballs in training camp while working his way back from a shoulder injury that cost him the entire 2017 season, it’s a pleasant surprise to see him playing so well so early in the season. Through four games, Luck has completed 125 of 186 passes (67.3 percent) for 1,126 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. He’s never had a full-season completion percentage higher than 63.5 percent before, and while his yards per completion (9.0) is a career low so far, he’s also doing it with an underwhelming receiving corps. T.Y. Hilton is his top receiver (38 targets, 21 catches), but he’s out with an injury Thursday. His most-targeted receivers after Hilton are Eric Ebron (30 targets, 17 catches), Nyheim Hines (26/22), and Ryan Grant (22/18). That’s not exactly Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, and Edgerrin James in terms of weaponry.
Josh Gordon: I’ve been consciously trying to avoid considering all the possibilities that an engaged Gordon brings to the Patriots offense, and I’ve been failing miserably. One mistake, one more escapade with drugs or alcohol, and he’s either a suspended Patriot or an ex-Patriot. And yet it is impossible not to be tantalized by what can do right now (that 13-yard catch he made with his hands, in traffic, on a Brady dart against the Dolphins was a subtly elite play) and what he could do if he can just stay on the straight and narrow. He has two catches as a Patriot, and already it’s a blast to watch him play. I know it’s wise not to count on him for the long-term. Darned if I can figure out a way to avoid doing it.
Grievance of the week
This is kind of a pre-grievance, one that applies only if the Patriots don’t do the right thing Thursday night and find some way to pay homage to Adam Vinatieri. This could be the greatest kicker in NFL’s history’s final game in Foxborough, the place where he made his name, not to mention a couple of the biggest and most improbable field goals in league history. Vinatieri’s tying and winning kicks in the “Snow Bowl’’ victory over the Raiders in January 2002 could arguably be identified as the first paragraph in the origin story of the greatest dynasty in NFL history. He also kicked the winning field goal in the final seconds of the Patriots’ first two Super Bowl victories. What does that give him, four of the top half-dozen most important field goals in league history? If he’s not elected to the Hall of Fame on his first chance, then the Hall of Fame is no longer worth acknowledging.
I could be overlooking something, but I don’t think I am, and I cannot recall the Patriots ever paying homage to a visiting player who once called Foxborough his football home. That ought to change Thursday night. Vinatieri, who turns 46 in December, last week became the NFL leader in field goals (567), passing recent Canton inductee Morten Andersen. There’s a chance this is the last time he plays in Foxborough. It’s also a chance to remind the Colts, for whom he has played 13 seasons, that his legacy was created in the decade he was a Patriot. If he doesn’t deserve a tribute as a visitor – with a touch of trolling included – then who ever will?
Prediction, or I bet Bill Belichick would have soliloquized on Bert Jones this week if anyone had just asked
I couldn’t tell you whether second-year Colts general manager Chris Ballard is an upgrade on predecessor Ryan Grigson in terms of procuring quality personnel, though that’s not exactly a high bar to clear. But he seems like a much better upgrade in terms of personality and culture than Grigson, a self-serious drip who was more interested in the PSI of a football than in finding competent offensive lineman. Ballard even has a sense of humor. I mean, that joke he repeats about the Colts and Patriots’ current status – “the rivalry is back on,’’ he said again this week – never fails to get a hearty chuckle. The Colts have a terrific quarterback in Andrew Luck, but most of the roster is still trying to establish itself in the NFL. Yes, Josh McDaniels jilted them, and that ups the contentiousness on their end. But there’s no rivalry until the Colts can win one, and they’ve lost their last seven to the Patriots. In a short week, against a Patriots team coming off a rout, with Edelman returning, the Colts won’t be a rival. They’ll be a speed bump.
Patriots 38, Colts 10.
