Bedard: With Chiefs looming, Patriots' defense allows 298 yards in 2nd half vs. Colts

FOXBOROUGH — We interrupt all the celebrating about Josh Gordon's playground touchdown against two Colts backups (the Patriots' equivalent: Keion Crossen and Nate Ebner) and Sony Michel's stiff arm to point out this inconvenient fact:

The Patriots' defense allowed 298 yards in the second half on Thursday night ...

To the Colts, who entered the game with the 25th-ranked offense (22nd in passing), according to FootballOutsiders.com ...

Who were playing without their best receiver (T.Y. Hilton), left tackle (Anthony Castonzo) and second-best tight end (Jack Doyle).

And in nine days, the Kansas City Chiefs and their offense -- which ranks second in the league overall and in passing, according to FootballOutsiders.com, and put up 537 yards and 42 points the last time the two teams met at Gillette — comes calling.

Are the Patriots concerned after their eventual 38-24 victory?

Not exactly.

"Yeah, I mean look, they're a good passing team," Bill Belichick said of the Colts. "They can throw the ball as well as anybody. Good quarterback, good receivers, good tight end, good backs, well-coached. They've thrown it against everybody. They lead the league in third-down conversions. Could we have played better? Yeah."

That would seem to be an understatement. In addition to the 298 total yards, the Patriots allowed Andrew Luck to complete 24 of 38 passes for 249 yards, pick up 18 first downs and go 7-for-11 third and fourth downs in the second half alone.

The Patriots had gone from (my count) 39 mental and physical errors against the Lions to just six vs. Miami to snap a two-game losing streak. The Patriots' performance in the first half against the Colts seemed to build off that success, but the second half appeared to be a regression for the unit, and that didn't sit well with some of the players.

"Definitely," Devin McCourty told BostonSportsJournal.com when asked if he was disappointed. "Giving up touchdowns, giving up yards… that’s what we have to be ready for. When we came out in that second half, it wasn’t what the Colts did in the first half. It was now two-minute offense, it was four wide, it was passing damn near every down.

"We just have to be ready. We had our dime package in there. We just have to do a better job of getting off the field. Every time you watch it, it will come down to one or two plays on a drive if we just get off the field, then we’re not even talking about all those yards."

McCourty admitted he had his struggles again against the Colts as both tight ends, Eric Ebron and Erik Swoope (who wasn't even on the flipcard because he was signed from the practice squad for this game to replace Doyle), who scored two touchdowns against him and nearly a third that was ruled down just short.

What does McCourty need to do better?

"Make the play," he told BSJ. "I’m not out here to give up touchdowns. It is what it is, though. I’m not going to go cry about it. Just going to work at it."

Taking the pulse around the defensive locker room, most players were happy with the win and were ready to make the corrections this week. There was a sense that — and this is real — with a Thursday night game, you just want to get out with a win. On a short week, style points don't count.

"Those games, of course you want to dominate. But sometimes it’s just, get the win, make the corrections so you don’t make the same mistake and that’s all," Elandon Roberts said. "We’re always going to hold ourselves up to a high standard. We’ll attack the problem areas."

Said Trey Flowers: "Obviously, you don’t want to go out there and give up that many yards. But that’s a tough team, they have a lot of great skill players. You have to tip your cap -- they kept fighting."

The pass rush seemed to be ineffective for large stretches, but Flowers thought it was solid.

"I think we affected (Luck) OK," Flowers said. "He wasn’t able to scramble too much and things like that. We can always be better."

Kyle Van Noy thinks the first half — when the Patriots allowed three points, eight first downs and 141 total yards — should be factored into the performance.

"It happened," Van Noy said. "It’s still an NFL team. I think that’s the biggest thing people overlook. People say, Well this dude is out, this dude is out … you could do that every week. We just have to get better. ... You have to look at the complete game. You haven't said anything about the first half. We’ll look at the film and go from there."

As for the Chiefs, the Patriots know they're going to play a much more complete game.

"We’re going to play against the best team, probably the hottest team in the NFL, between them and the Rams, so it's going to be a tough challenge," McCourty said. "Those guys have weapons everywhere (and) one of the best young quarterbacks in the game. So we’re going to have to be on it. We’re going to have to play really well to beat those guys."

As for whether or not nine days will be enough to prepare for the Chiefs' varied offense and multiple weapons (Pat Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Kareem Hunt), Van Noy said he'll leave it in the hands of Belichick.

"I think I’ll put my faith in Bill 'Trill' Belichick and we’ll be aight," he said.