The New England Patriots are above .500 for the first time this season as they head into their bye week, having won two straight and four of their last five.
Mac Jones had a touchdown pass, Nick Folk added four field goals and the Patriots finished with nearly 10 sacks to help New England beat the Indianapolis Colts 26-3 at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
The Colts offense played poorly, and they didn't cross midfield until the final minute of the second quarter. They never did make it into the end zone, settling for one field goal.
But credit the Patriots defense who went off with nine sacks and a pick-six. Linebacker Matthew Judon was pretty much unblockable, sacking Colts quarterback Sam Ehlinger three times. Judon now leads the NFL with 11.5 sacks this season.
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"My teammates put me in great situations to execute," Judon said. "I'm just willing to do whatever I need to do for our defense to have success. Whatever that is, however it looks, and however I need to play I'm willing to do it. Today it was just one of those games.''
Linebacker Josh Uche also notched three sacks on Ehlinger on Sunday. It's just the second time in Patriots franchise history that multiple players have tallied three or more sacks in the same game, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
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Ehlinger became the latest quarterback to leave Foxborough with a loss. Since 2003, rookie and second-year quarterbacks have a 4-43 record in visits to Gillette Stadium.
"When you're playing a young quarterback if you can make it tough like we did today ... that pressure _ he felt that early in the game," Patriots safety Devin McCourty said.
New England wasn't great offensively, either, but took advantage of some decent early field position to move the ball enough to set up Folk for two first-half field goals of 49 yards and 43 yards. The special teams also did their part with Jonathan Jones blocking Matt Haack's punt on Indy's fifth drive and recovering at the Colts 2.
Jones tossed a 3-yard TD to Rhamondre Stevenson two plays later to put New England in front 13-0. Jones was 20 of 30 for 147 yards.
"Everybody got in on the fun,'' Judon said.
New England's defense did the rest.
Late in the fourth quarter, Jones snagged a deflected pass just before it hit the ground and returned it 17 yards to the end zone for a Patriots touchdown to finish the scoring.
"We got pressure on early downs and created some long-yardage situations," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "Anytime you have good pass rush, you have good coverage. And anytime you have good coverage, you have good pass rush.''
The Patriots have a bye next week, and will return to action in Week 11, in another matchup with the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 20.
The Patriots (5-4) beat the Jets last week, 22-17 at MetLife Stadium. In his postgame press conference, Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, who was one of the worst players on the field in the Week 8 game, was asked about the Patriots extending their win streak against the Jets to 13 games. He had a tense response, saying, "Yeah, we'll have these guys in two weeks."
