INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts landed a critical blow for their playoff hopes Saturday night, beating the hated Patriots for the first time since 2009 and putting a capper on their comeback from a 1-4 start.
Playing a physical, brawling style of football that didn’t look much like the old Colts-Patriots rivalry games in this series, Indianapolis proved it’s the tougher team, outlasting New England 27-17 on Jonathan Taylor’s game-breaking 67-yard touchdown run to seal it.
By beating the Patriots, the Colts’ playoff odds shot up to 88 percent according to fivethirtyeight.com, and now Taylor is firmly in the middle of the MVP race.