FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots won Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium, but the victory came in spite of an awful performance from New England’s offense.
This was no “complementary football” masterpiece. The Patriots defense was sensational, but Jake Bailey nearly undermined a great special teams outing with three terrible punts and the offense managed a measly 203 total yards in the 26-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Bill Belichick focused on defense and special teams during his postgame speech, highlighting Jonathan Jones’ excellent game — the stud corner had a pick-six and a blocked punt — and New England holding Indy’s offense to 0-for-14 on third downs. Belichick also gave a shoutout to Matthew Judon, who registered three sacks on a day that saw New England tie a team record with nine overall sacks.
During his own speech, special teams captain Matthew Slater seemingly wanted to inspire the Patriots offense after a forgettable afternoon.
“When we struggle in this building, it really pales in comparison to reality, right?” Slater said. “So, we gotta learn to embrace that struggle. How we respond to it — that’s who we’re going to be. Struggle, it’s necessary, fellas, to get to where we want to be.”
Slater’s words clearly resonated with Judon, who referenced them during his postgame news conference.
“Slate kinda talked to us about struggling,” Judon said. “And, when you’re struggling and you have individual success but you’re not getting the wins you want, you find out who you are and you find out what kind of teammates you are. And I’m the type — we could’ve won the same game, we could’ve had the same game and I could’ve had no sacks. (Josh Uche), Daniel (Ekuale), (Deatrich) Wise, Anfernee (Jennings), they could’ve all had the stats and I would’ve come up here the same way. …
“It’s all about the wins and losses for me. It’s all about striving for something bigger than myself.”
Speaking of wins, the Patriots now have picked up victories in four of their last five games and enter their bye week with a 5-4 record. New England will look to keep it up when it hosts the New York Jets on Sunday, Nov. 20, in what will be a huge game for both teams.
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