New England Patriots: 3 Standouts from Week 5 vs. Colts

3. S Patrick Chung

The Indianapolis Colts’ offense wasn’t necessarily on the field a lot but that didn’t stop one of the New England Patriots’ veteran defenders from making his share of plays. In the first half of his team’s 38-24 triumph, safety Patrick Chung totaled five stops, one-half sack and picked off Colts’ quarterback Andrew Luck. The latter set up a field goal for Bill Belichick’s team, which owned a 21-point lead at intermission.

By game’s end, Chung finished with 11 tackles, knocked down a pass, as well as the aforementioned partial sack and interception. Safety mate Devin McCourty actually finished with a game-high 14 stops, which included one pass defensed, a forced fumble and fumble recovery. But he also seemed to struggle in coverage.

Bill Belichick’s team owned a 24-3 advantage at halftime and had their own offensive sparkplug in the form of running back James White (more on him later). But on the defensive side of the football, Chung brought it in a big way.

His pick with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter (thanks to pressure from defensive end Adrian Clayborn) set up a Stephen Gostkowski field goal. And his physical play was something the Patriots needed in a big way in this contest.