Lots of great plays to choose from this week, but here are three that summed up the game most succinctly in my view.
We start off with a carry on third-and-1 in the first quarter that Jonas Gray took for 20 yards. The Pats had struggled in recent weeks when running ball on short yardage third downs. Against Denver and Chicago they were 0-for-3 in those situations.
But this play illustrates the kind of night it was going to be: Gray running roughshod over the Colts and the Pats converting 9-of-13 third downs.
Next, we skip to the fourth quarter, with the Pats up by eight, still anyone’s game. Brady finds Brandon LaFell, who makes a ridiculous catch to take the Pats into scoring range to put the game away. LaFell has been the player the Patriots have lacked since Randy Moss. Not to say LaFell is Moss-esque, but he’s the first physical mismatch at receiver the Pats have had since him. Add in circus catches like this and it’s easy to see why Brady has finally found a free agent wide receiver he likes for the first time since 2007.
I could’ve chosen quite a few third-down stops, or even the McCourty interception, but instead we’re going with this game-sealing fourth-down stop. Reggie Wayne has put some final fourth-quarter daggers in our backs plenty of times over the last decade, but this time Darrelle Revis sticks with him like glue and forces the incompletion.
This Patriots defense is finally no longer the weak link, as it has been since 2010. Now they’re every bit the strength the offense is.
And of course, I couldn’t not put this play by Gronk up. Just the ultimate exclamation point.
