Coming out of their bye week with four games left in the regular season, the New England Patriots tried to keep their spot as the top-ranked team in both their division and their conference. The first of those contests saw the Patriots travel to Indianapolis to take on the 7-6 Colts — a team that is itself very much involved in the AFC playoff race.
The Patriots may have won seven straight and entered the contest as the owners of a 9-4 record, but they had their hands full in Week 15. The Colts, after all, are a well-rounded team and it showed: Indianapolis registered two takeaways and a blocked punt, stifled New England’s ground game, and put the game away with a touchdown from the NFL’s rushing leader to win 27-17.
A Patriots victory would have allowed them to stay in the driver’s seat for the top playoff seed in the conference and the 18th division title of the Bill Belichick era. Now, however, the team will need a victory next week against the Buffalo Bills in order to at least safe the AFC East crown.
With all that said, please enjoy this story stream of Pats Pulpits’ pre- and post-game coverage of the game.