Patriots reveal motivation for win over Colts: "It was a little different story today"

FOXBORO -- Around Gillette Stadium, you don't often hear about any time other than the present. The past is the past, the future is the future, and all that matters is this week.

That philosophy hasn't exactly changed, per se, but the team did reveal after Sunday's 26-3 thumping of the visiting Colts that a certain game from last season was fresh on their mind as they prepared for work this week.

"Good win for our team, certainly a lot better than the last time we played the Colts," head coach Bill Belichick said in his opening remarks at the podium.

That last meeting was an ugly one for the Patriots, who had won seven straight games to improve to 9-4 at their bye week, only to lose 27-17 on national TV against the Colts in Week 15. That loss was part of a 1-3 finish to the season for the Patriots, killing their chances of winning the division and leading to their ill-fated playoff matchup with the Bills.

This time around, the circumstances were obviously much different. The Colts are two quarterbacks removed from that game, having switched to the inexperienced Sam Ehlinger from Matt Ryan, after letting Carson Wentz go in the offseason. They also just fired their offensive coordinator (though he was just running head coach Frank Reich's offense), and more significantly, Jonathan Taylor is out with an ankle injury.

Nevertheless, based on some postgame comments, it's clear that the Patriots used last year's loss to help steady their focus this year to head into their bye week with a record above .500.

"Really good to walk off the field today with a good win against the Colts -- you know, a team that we obviously couldn't play very well against last year," Belichick added. "So it was a little different story today."

Quarterback Mac Jones threw for 299 yards with two touchdowns but also two interceptions in last year's loss in Indianapolis. This time, he had a more muted performance, throwing for 147 yards with a touchdown, but also without any interceptions. Like Belichick, Jones' first remarks at the postgame podium invoked the painful memory of last year.

"Obviously talked a lot about last year and how we felt after the game," Jones said. "Felt like we came in and played as a team."

Jones added: "In the NFL, it's hard to win. It takes everybody. Like I said, last year was a different story. And we won this year. So that's all that really matters."

A different Jones -- cornerback Jonathan Jones -- had a rather large say in the outcome of Sunday's game, as he blocked a punt to set the Patriots up at the Colts' 2-yard line, and he turned in a pick-six in the fourth quarter to unofficially end the game.

In last year's game against the Colts, it was Indianapolis making the game-changing punt block, which Jones made reference to on Sunday.

"We had that dialed up on punt, to go after him pretty early," Jones explained. "I don't know if it was revenge for last year, but it's kind of on our radar to go after him on special teams."

In the locker room, Kendrick Bourne spoke about how disruptive last year's game against the Colts was to the Patriots' season as a whole.

"We played the Colts last year, I think they kind of stopped our streak last year," Bourne said. "So that was a good one to win. But to get that win, getting back and going into the bye week, get our bodies back, is very encouraging. So yeah, [the philosophy is] just not do what we did last year obviously and just pick up where we just left off today."

Matthew Slater, the team's emotional leader who naturally has a focus on special teams, also expressed quite clearly how much last year's loss was on their minds.

"Yeah it was a great effort. That was the effort we were looking for. I think we looked back at the game that we played against these guys last year, and we really just -- we really didn't play well in any phase of the game for us in the kicking game," Slater said. "So, it was great to come out and kind of have some redemption."

Obviously, Sunday's game looked nothing like the one the Patriots played last year against the Colts. Based on some of those postgame comments, it does seem like ensuring that to be the case was a point of emphasis in Foxboro this week.