What we learned from Sunday’s games

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Bobby Kownack’s insights:

1. Richardson’s performance is a microcosm of his season. Especially as the second year quarterback Anthony RichardsonFinding the growing pains a little too painful, he brought the Colts back with his best drive of the game. Richardson was up and down as he had been all year against New England, moving the ball around the field with equal parts breathtaking skill and woeful inaccuracy. He completed just 12 of his 24 passes for 109 yards. When there were 5:34 minutes left to play and he was seven minutes behind, his passing performance was just 63 minutes. It seemed to be another blip in his development path. Then he went on the move, covering 80 yards, converting a fourth down with a crisp throw on the run and another with his legs on a targeted QB sweep. He had at least two deep throws (and maybe a third) that should have been intercepted, but his methodical push still worked, allowing the Colts to score on a pass from Richardson Alec Pierce and do two with 12 seconds remaining. Richardson stormed into the end zone on that conversion attempt to help put the Pats away. It was a worrying day turned celebration and he will now head into the team’s late farewell with a new confidence.
2. The Patriots’ stalls and gaffes make victory impossible. Anyone watching Sunday will understand why New England now has double-digit losses this season. Although the Patriots vastly outscored the Colts in total net yards (422 to 253) and time of possession (34:12 to 25:48), they simply found ways to sabotage themselves too often to secure a victory. They had two different touchdowns off the backboard, one due to a holding call and another due to an illegal shift – although they recovered and found the end zone again after the second incident. Joey Slye At the end of the first half, he inexplicably missed a 25-yard field goal that would have tipped the balance in a one-point loss. On another ill-fated trip deep into Colts territory, Drake Maye threw a ball seemingly intended for a TD that rolled instead Hunter Heinrich His body fell as the tight end ended, finding safety Julian Blackmon for an unusual interception. The near misses left the game close with five minutes remaining, as New England’s depleted defense gave up a 19-play, 80-yard touchdown drive and subsequent two-point conversion to cap a demoralizing loss.
3. Indy finds a way to keep its playoff chances reasonable. The Colts weren’t necessarily the better team on Sunday, but they will emerge victorious and give themselves a one-in-three chance of making the playoffs with four games left in their season. They owe this to a clutch final drive as well as the contributions of players like … Jonathan Taylor And Zaire Franklin. Taylor ran hard all day and surpassed his combined rushing yards from his previous two games since Anthony Richardson returned with 96 yards on 25 carries (92). He also scored a touchdown on a tight rope catch and reach to the pylon, his only reception of the day. Although Indianapolis’ defense was porous and New England allowed 200 yards on the ground alone, it was just enough. Franklin was tremendous in this effort. He led the team with 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks and also disrupted the aforementioned goal-line pass to Hunter Henry to result in a pick. The Colts are guaranteed to either keep pace or move within a game of the No. 7 seed Broncos, their opponent after the Week 14 bye. They then close with the Titans, Giants and Colts, who have a combined record of 7-29.

Next Gen Stats for Colts-Patriots (via NFL Pro): Colts head coach Shane Steichen made the optimal decision, choosing to trail by two, 24-23, with 12 seconds left in regulation (+5.5% in relative win probability and +2.3% in net win probability).

NFL Research: New England’s 422 total yards were the most in a game since Week 3, 2022, a 37-26 loss to the Ravens.