FOXBORO, Mass. — Keion White believes the New England Patriots defense failed the offense against the Indianapolis Colts.
“I felt like this one was on us, for sure,” White told NESN.com after the 25-24 loss at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
White’s right.
Drake Maye and company sputtered in the red zone time and time again. They couldn’t capitalize on Christian Gonzalez’s fourth-quarter interception, which set them up at midfield after they already held a 24-17 lead. It could have been a much different story if the offense turned such solid field position into anything besides a three-and-out. They didn’t.
But the Patriots scored on each of their first four first-half drives and compiled 422 yards of offense, the first time this season they exceeded 400. They’re the unit still developing with a new offensive line and rookie quarterback, right?
Meanwhile, New England’s defense allowed Indianapolis to score two touchdowns on its first three possessions. The Colts marched 80 yards in 19 plays (!) to win the game, too. That crunch-time drive included three fourth-down conversions and a game-winning two-point conversion.
“We had a couple of extended plays, penalties, stuff like that,” White said. “We have to clean things up like that. The offense did enough to win. We have to seal the deal. Because I feel like that’s what Patriots defense is.
“That’s how I feel. That’s my perspective of it.”
White isn’t alone.
Patriots star defensive tackle Davon Godchaux lauded Maye and New England’s running game after the loss. He put it back on the defense for allowing Colts dual-threat quarterback Anthony Richardson to have so much success on the ground, especially on early downs. Indianapolis converted five of its 11 third-down attempts with fourth-down conversions routinely leading to designed runs for Richardson.
Indianapolis had scoring drives of eight, eight, 13 and 19 plays. The Patriots had trouble getting off the field.
“I thought we should have put the game away. I thought the offense did a hell of a job driving the ball down field,” Godchaux said. “I mean, we blame ourselves on this ’cause I thought we had chances to put them away and we didn’t.”
The Patriots offense helped gain advantages in total yards (422-253), yards per play (6.5-4.4), turnovers (+1) and time of possession (34:12-25:48). But it wasn’t enough because the defense couldn’t get a key stop when it mattered most.
