Jonathan Taylor helps Colts turn table on Patriots with 27-17 victory

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) runs with the ball during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jonathan Taylor ran for 170 yards and scored on a 67-yarder with 2:01 left to help the Indianapolis Colts seal a 27-17 victory over the New England Patriots on Saturday night.

The Colts (8-6) solidified their playoff hopes by winning for the fifth time in six games — and ending an eight-game losing streak to the rival Patriots (9-5).

Taylor has run for a touchdown in 11 straight games to tie Hall of Famer Lenny Moore for the longest streak in franchise history.

“It was really just accepting the challenge, knowing it was going to be dogfight, knowing everything had to be earned,” Taylor said. “When you do that, that’s winning half the battle.”

New England had won seven straight and started the weekend in the top spot of the AFC playoff chase. But the Patriots could not overcome a 20-0 deficit because of too many uncharacteristic mistakes, including Taylor’s game-saving run.

The game had a little bit of everything — drama, physical play, shouting matches, even a fight that led to the ejections of Patriots safety Kyle Dugger and Colts receiver Michael Pittman Jr.

But Indy won this one by stealing a page out of Bill Belichick’s playbook — using the ground game to chew up the clock and closing it out with a back-breaking play in the waning minutes. It was Indy’s first win over New England since 2009.

And yet, it didn’t have to be this close.

The Colts and Taylor sent an early message by starting their second series with seven straight running plays before Taylor took a direct snap, handed off to Carson Wentz and then Wentz flipped the ball to Nyheim Hines for an 8-yard scoring pass and a 7-0 lead.

Matthew Adams followed that by blocking Jake Bailey’s punt that E.J. Speed recovered in the end zoner for a 14-0 lead — New England’s largest deficit since a Week 3 loss to New Orleans.

“It seems like they just had good force on the play,” New England special teams star Matthew Slater said. “That’s tough when you give up plays like that, it’s going to be hard to win. We spotted a team 20 points at their place. Good luck trying to win. There’s no excuse to play like that.”

The Colts added a 25-yard field goal before halftime and another early in the third quarter to make it 20-0.

Rookie quarterback Mac Jones finally got the Patriots righted in the fourth quarter. He threw a 12-yard TD pass from Jones to Hunter Henry and after Nick Folk’s short field goal made it 20-10, Jones hooked up with Henry for a 7-yard scoring pass with 2:21 left.

Two plays later, Taylor eluded one tackle and sprinted to the front corner of the end zone.

Jones was 26 of 45 with 299 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions as he fell to 6-1 on the road this season .

Wentz was 5 of 12 with 57 yards with one TD and one interception as the Colts rushed for 226 yards on 39 carries.


INJURY REPORT

Patriots: Played without top rusher Damien Harris (hamstring) and lost linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (ankle) in the first half. Receiver Nelson Agholor left late in the third quarter with a head injury. Agholor eventually was taken to the locker room.

Colts: Center Ryan Kelly missed his second straight game after being a late scratch. He was activated off the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday but was listed on the injury report with an injured knee and missed time because of a personal matter. Linebacker Darius Leonard left briefly in the first half with a right shoulder or arm injury and cornerback Xavier Rhodes walked off the field early in the fourth quarter.

STAT PACK

Patriots: New England’s NFL record streak of scoring in the first half of 99 consecutive games ended. .. The Patriots also failed to score 30 points against Indy for the first time in 10 games, leaving them in a tie with Kansas City, which did it nine straight times against Denver from 1964-68 in the AFL. … New England rushed 19 times for 81 yards. Henry had six catches for 77 yards.

Colts: Speed became the first NFL player to record two touchdowns off blocked punts in one season since Ed Reed in 2003. … Taylor has rushed for 100 yards in eight of the last 11 games. … Indy added two more totals to its league-leading total and now has at least one takeaway in 15 consecutive games.

UP NEXT

Patriots: Host Buffalo next Sunday.

Colts: At Arizona next Saturday night.