The Indianapolis Colts found a way to escape with a victory in Germany over the New England Patriots in a game that came down to the final two minutes.
This was a matchup that Indy should’ve easily won but their offense was ineffective after their opening touchdown drive. The Pats defense did a great job bottling Jonathan Taylor for the rest of the contest, which put the game on Gardner Minshew’s shoulders.
He was unable to get into a rhythm, and despite seeing little pressure, he played with happy feet and was inconsistent on his pass attempts. This allowed New England to hang in this game in the fourth quarter but the defense was able to close it out for the win. The Patriots were moving the ball well on the ground but an errant pass by Mac Jones led to a Julian Blackmon interception.
This would surprisingly lead to Bill Belichick benching Jones for Bailey Zappe on their last attempt to win the game in the final two minutes. The game ended on one of the weirder sequences I’ve seen.
On a play where it looked like the Pats had a false start, Zappe faked spiked the ball, and tried to force it into a covered wide receiver, and Rodney Thomas II got his hands on the ball to seal the win for the Colts.
This was by far one of the worst products the NFL has put in Germany but for Indy, a win is a win. Here are five takeaways from the contest: