Gray Areas

Week 10. Coming off their bye, the Patriots went into Indianapolis as 3 point underdogs. Which, is kind of understandable considering the Colts were the #1 ranked offense in the league. 

The Patriots were far from flawless, especially in the first half, but it was a pretty convincing win in my opinion. 

Where: Lucas Oil Stadium

When: Sunday November 17th, 2014 

Key Matchups: Revis on Reggie Wayne ; Arrington on T.Y. Hilton ; Fleener -well we couldn't seem to cover him at all, so just Fleener vs the Pats defense ; O-Line vs the blitz-happy Colts defense 

Blatantly Bad: 

1. Brady's two interceptions. Especially the second one, late in the first half. What the was that? Brady seemed to have checked out of a run play, and opted for a sideline pass, instead. Totally pointless, and completely avoidable. Why pass it on 3rd and 1? Should've handed the ball off to Gray or let Brady sneak it over...after all, he is the best in the league at quarterback sneaks. As for his first pick, I didn't agree with the play at all, mainly because why go deep to Tyms in triple coverage? Brady had a very un Brady-like first half. 
2. We had absolutely no answer for Fleener all night long. I guess maybe the Patriots had forgotten about him, while they were busy preparing for Wayne and Hilton. Who knows. 
3. Still need to address and fix the penalty issue. New England has had way too many drive-killing penalties, this season. 

Glaringly good:

1. Versatility on offense. Jonas Gray had a crazy good game. And that doesn't even do it justice. Jonas Gray dominated tonight - 199 yards and 4 touchdowns. He bulldozed through tackles and consistently moved the chains all. night. long. Gronk was his usual self, hauling in a touchdown pass, and getting physical with former Patriot, Sergio Brown. If Brown is going to remember anything from this game, it's probably to never talk trash around Gronk...like, ever again. Tim Wright was back to catching touchdown passes, and Jules was clutch, per usual. Pretty much sums it up.
2. Offensive line! In my opinion, OLine was the most impressive unit on Sunday night. They did such a great job not only protecting Brady, but blocking for Jonas Gray as well. 
3. Defense--in general. Pats secondary was pretty solid for the most part, and stepped up when they needed to most. Aside from allowing a few catches, Revis managed to contain all-time great, Reggie Wayne. Browner struggled to slow down Coby Fleener, but given the type of corner Browner is, that really comes as no surprise to me. All in all, they got the job done. The Patriots defensive line has really improved over the past couple weeks. Ninko and Wilfork both had dominating performances against Indy, limiting Ahmad Bradshaw and Trent Richardson to 4 yards. Yes, 4. As for the linebacker position, both Hightower and Collins played a pretty solid game. They both struggled slightly when dropping into seam coverage, which allowed the Colts to run deep crossing routes, fairly successfully.