Knee-jerk Reactions: Pitiful Offensive Performance Leads to 26-3 Blowout Loss to Patriots

After nine weeks, the Indianapolis Colts sit at 3-5-1 following an embarrassing 26-3 blowout loss to the New England Patriots Sunday. Simply put: The Colts look lost, can’t seem to figure things out and will probably end up with a top ten draft pick in April.

ABYSMAL PERFORMANCE ON OFFENSE LEADS TO JUST 3 TOTAL POINTS

The Colts’ offense is an absolute train wreck and can barely move the football. Pressure was in the face of quarterback Sam Ehlinger nearly every time he dropped back to pass. Indy’s offensive line gave up nine sacks, which is by far the most the unit has allowed on the season.

Ehlinger led the team in rushing yards with 39 on five attempts and went 15-for-29 with 103 passing yards and an awful pick-six that essentially put the game away late in the fourth quarter. The Colts’ offense had eight first downs, 121 total yards and didn’t convert a single third down all game (0-for-14).

Aside from the interception, the Colts failed to move the football on offense for much of the game. Sunday’s offensive showing was about as bad as it could be for Indianapolis. From offensive line shuffles to a change at quarterback, there just doesn’t appear to be anything else the Colts can do to fix their woes. This offense is what they’ve shown for the vast majority of the season. Mediocre.

DEFENSE PUTS TOGETHER ANOTHER STRONG PERFORMANCE, LIMITS PATRIOTS’ OFFENSE

This has been the storyline for nearly the entire season. Indy’s defense yet again showed up and showed out against New England’s offense Sunday. The Colts’ defense limited quarterback Mac Jones to just 147 passing yards on 20 attempts. Jones averaged only 4.9 yards per attempt and was also sacked four times. New England running backs only totaled 70 rushing yards on the day on an average of 2.5 yards per attempt.

Tight end Hunter Henry, the Patriots’ top pass-catcher on the afternoon, was held to just 50 receiving yards on four catches. Wideouts Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and rookie Tyquan Thornton combined for just 58 total receiving yards on nine catches.

Indy’s defense only allowed the Patriots to go 6-of-17 (35%) on third downs and held their offense to just 19 total points, 203 total yards, 3.3 yards per play and forced a fumble as well. For yet another week, it feels like the defense is doing everything they can to try and keep the Colts in games, but it’s offense who continues to fail at playing complementary football.

SPECIAL TEAMS MISCUES COSTLY IN KEY MOMENTS

Sunday wasn’t exactly the greatest day for the Colts’ special teams unit, either. Kicker Chase McLaughlin, who’s been nothing short of fantastic for the Colts all season long, went 1-for-2 on field goal attempts and missed a key 39-yard attempt near the end of the first half on one of the only promising drives the Indy’s offense all game long.

Punter Matt Haack was busy and had a total of eight punts, averaging 43.5 yards per boot with a long of 54. On what appeared to be some sort of error, Haack had a punt blocked late in the second quarter, which set up New England’s offense with first-and-goal. The untimely mistake led to the Patriots’ only offensive touchdown of the day and a 13-0 lead going into halftime.

Indianapolis’ special teams unit is one of their strong suits and had an extremely rough outing against the Patriots. The Colts can ill afford for their special teams to be making boneheaded errors when the offense has a hard enough time moving the football as they did Sunday.