Pats didn’t live up to the hype on Sunday

Ryan Dawson

Leading up to Sunday night’s marquee game, the media hype surrounding the Patriots versus Colts face-off was at an all-time high.

While the Patriots did come away with a win, it wasn’t the monumental, record-shattering, scorched-Earth kind of game Pats fans thought it would be. And maybe that isn’t such a bad thing.

Indianapolis started the game with a stout defense and careful offensive schemes. Andrew Luck has been a shadow of his former self for most of the year.

Leading up to the game, Luck had thrown more interceptions than touchdowns — seven and five, respectively. With a nagging shoulder injury, many were expecting Luck to be a turnover machine.

To his credit, he played a solid first half. A highly unusual Julian Edelman miscue gave the Colts an opportunity to snag an easy touchdown.

Heading into the second half, the Colts were uncharacteristically beating the high-powered Patriots. To most New England fans, it may have seemed as though the sky was falling.

Luckily for the Patriots and fans of horrible play calling the Colts attempted to execute one of the worst fake punts ever.

On fourth and three at the end of the third quarter, the Colts attempted the single worst fake punt in human history. The Colts lined up under center and suddenly shifted most of their line and offensive players to the right side of the field.

With wide receiver Griff Whalen acting as a center and safety Colt Anderson as quarterback, the Colts snapped the ball and were immediately run over by the Pats.

Courtesy of Patriot’s Instagram

The play left New England with great field position that resulted in a touchdown by Legarrette Blount. The Colts didn’t go down easy, though.

They tried up until the very end, even scoring a garbage-time touchdown by Whalen.

The Colts appeared mentally defeated when Jamie Collins channeled his inner Kam Chancellor to hurdle the line and cleanly blocked a field goal. The Colts were swinging as they went down and attempted an onside kick to bring the game into overtime. Given all the snafus on special teams, the likelihood that the Colts could convert the onside kick were slim to none.

Rob Gronkowski recovered the kick and almost brought the recovery in for a touchdown, but stepped out of bounds at the last minute.

Even though the Pats didn’t break every game record known to man, they still pummeled the Colts in the end, largely because of the Colt’s poor play calling.

After the game, the media interviewed players in an attempt to coax some kind of “revenge tour” from the Patriots to no avail.

I think fans should be cautious of assuming the Pats are going to roll over every team like we did the Jaguars. The season is long, injuries happen, and things change.

New Englanders would be remiss if they blindly believed we are invincible.

The best way to approach the season is in true “Bill Belichickian” fashion.

After the game, Chandler Jones said with a smile and a wink, “We are on to New York.”