Four Takeaways From The New England Patriots’ 42-20 Win Over The Indianapolis Colts

Nov 16, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New England Patriots running back

(35) celebrates a first half score against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

1. Running Game

If you want to make a deep postseason run, you can’t rely solely on Tom Brady’s right arm. I’m not saying you have to be a run-first team to succeed, but you need some kind of running attack to win a Super Bowl.

And last night, the Patriots proved they are capable of simply lining it up, and shoving it down your throat. Jonas Gray is a big, physical back, who doesn’t mess around with fancy jukes or things of that nature. He runs hard, and he is tough to bring down. The Patriots totaled 244 rushing yards and four touchdowns in last night’s win, completely dominating in that phase from start to finish.

Jonas Gray deserves a ton of credit, but let’s not forget about the big boys up front. I touched on this in my weekly ‘stock watch’, but the offensive line played a huge role in the explosion on the ground for New England. It started with some nice blocks from Rob Gronkowski and James Develin, and it eventually spread to the entire group up front. They were blowing the Colts off the ball all game long, and Gray had some damn fine holes to scamper through.