The New England Patriots defense wasted no time making its presence felt in Thursday night’s preseason opener, turning in four takeaways and helping force a 13-13 tie with the Indianapolis Colts.
New England’s defense came away with two interceptions and two forced fumbles, and the most important plays arrived when Indianapolis was pressing toward the end zone. Mike Vrabel liked the aggression, even if he knows there’s still plenty to clean up.
“I think they better have, or there would have been a lot more points that [Indianapolis] scored,” head coach Mike Vrabel said after Thursday’s game. “The turnovers are great, and I love us attacking the football and taking advantage of that.”
One of the biggest moments came early in the second quarter after the Colts moved 52 yards in five plays. Facing a quarterback sneak from Anthony Richardson at the one-yard line, Jeremiah Pharms Jr. knocked the ball free, and Dell Pettus finished the play by recovering it.
Both Pharms and Pettus wore captain’s patches in a game where most of the starters sat out.
Vrabel pointed to that kind of swing play as the sort of thing that can flip a game in a hurry.
“Just a lot of things to clean up, but when you talk about the ability to create turnovers, it can change the game,” Vrabel added. “Just try to defend every blade of grass down there on the goal line, and come up with a big turnover there.”
New England got another forced fumble on Indianapolis’ next possession when K.J. Britt, one of the team’s free-agency additions, stripped Richardson as he scrambled toward the red zone. That sequence came after a 27-yard punt return by Coleman Owen had set the Colts up with strong field position in their push to even the score at 7-7.
The Patriots also made their mark against the pass. Kindle Vildor picked off Richardson early in the first quarter when a throw to a receiver in the flat was mishandled, and John Saunders Jr. added another interception to open the second half by jumping a Riley Leonard deep ball intended for Eli Pancol on a skinny post.
For New England, the ball-hawking display wasn’t a surprise. It was the point of emphasis all camp long.
Earlier this offseason, Pettus said Kevin Byard challenged the defensive backs after the unit had just one takeaway through the first six summer practices.
“After those first few practices, [Byard] brought us up, and he was like, ‘We need takeaways today,’” Pettus shared. “Before we went to any competitive team activity, he said, ‘We need more takeaways; we’re going to go out here and go get the football.
Forget what everybody else is talking about; forget what the coaches talk about. This is our team.
This is our defensive backfield.’ And like, it’s up to us to go get it, because the coaches can’t play for us.
And I told him I thought that was great to hear just because he set the tone for us that day.”
That mindset showed up Thursday night, when the Patriots’ defense carried the turnover theme from practice straight into game action.
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