(Frankfurt) Jonathan Taylor scored a touchdown in the first quarter and the Indianapolis Colts held on to beat the New England Patriots 10-6 on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany.
It was the 50th NFL game outside the United States and the last of this season.
The Colts defense (5-5) dominated and Taylor’s touchdown in the first quarter was the only one of the game. The Indianapolis team intercepted a Mac Jones pass in the fourth quarter and made five sacks in the first half. Jones gave way to Bailey Zappe late in the fourth quarter.
Trailing 10-6 late in the fourth quarter, Jones guided the Patriots (2-8) into the penalty area, but Julian Blackmon intercepted his pass to Mike Gesicki at the one-yard line.
Colts quarterback Gardner Minshew threw a 28-yard pass to Josh Downs to force the Patriots to start using all of their timeouts.
Minshew completed 18 of 28 passes for 194 yards. Taylor had 69 yards on 23 carries while Michael Pittman caught eight balls for a total of 84 yards.
After forcing the Colts to punt, the Patriots handed the ball to Zappe with 1:52 remaining. He converted a fourth try before being the victim of an interception by Rodney Thomas to confirm his team’s defeat.
Jones had 15 of his 20 attempts through the air caught, but he threw an NFL-high 10th interception this season. Running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott had 88 and 54 yards, respectively.
Bill Belichick is having his worst start to a season since his first year as head coach in 2000. The Patriots have not won a game against teams other than those in the American Association East this season.
The Patriots took the lead following a 37-yard field goal by Chard Ryland, but the Colts put themselves ahead following Taylor’s middle finger on fourth down.
Matt Gay missed a 57-yard field goal attempt late in the second quarter to leave the score at 7-3 at halftime.
Ryland, who missed a 35-yard field goal early in the third quarter, made a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 7-6.
Gay responded with a 51-yard field goal to confirm the final score in favor of the Colts.
