BSJ Game Report: Patriots 13, Colts 13 - Defense forces four turnovers, Borregales misses game-winner

FOXBOROUGH — Everything you need to know from the Patriots’ preseason tie with the Colts in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Vrabel explains practice absence of Gonzalez, who doesn't dress: On the 98.5 The Sports Hub pregame show, Vrabel was asked about cornerbacks Christian Gonzalez and Carlton Davis not taking part in the Colts joint practice.

"Everybody that was healthy practiced (Tuesday),” Vrabel said. “So those guys, we didn’t deem them healthy enough to go out there and participate. When they’re ready, they’ll be back out there. I feel like they’ve all tried to start camp with their own purpose. Gonzo came out competitive and practiced and, I thought, improved. As good as he is, he knows he can still improve.”

Gonzalez tweaked something at the end of Monday's practice.

I'm sure a lot will be made of Gonzalez not appearing on the sideline during the game, but that's not unusual. None of the injured players dressed. That list: Gonzalez, DE Harold Landry (PUP), CB Charles Woods, S Brenden Schooler (NFI), LS Julian Ashby, LB Christian Elliss, WR Kyle Dixon, and DT Christian Barmore.

"Christian was unavailable, physically unavailable for the practice. That's the clarification," Vrabel said. "Just like other players that I told to have treatment, and everybody has a plan here, there were other guys that were in that same category. If you want to list the names, Christian Elliss, Brenden Schooler, Harold Landry, Christian Barmore, et cetera. So make sure they're all included. They were all in the same group of what they did."

I'm not saying Gonzalez's contract situation had nothing to do with his absence; it's just difficult to say it definitely did.

No starters play in the game: Not one Patriots starter took part in this game, and some of the backups like TreVeyon Henderson and Elijah Ponder (when Harold Landry returns) did not play either. The list to my eyes: AJ Brown, Will Campbell, Aljah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson, Mike Onwenu, Morgan Moses, Hunter Henry, DeMario Douglas, Romeo Doubs, Drake Maye, Rhamondre Stevenson, Henderson, Reggie Gilliam; Dre'Mont Jones, Barmore, Cory Durden, Milton Williams, Landry, Robert Spillane, Elliss, Davis, Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, Craig Woodson, Kevin Byard.

Defensive starters:

OLB: Gabe Jacas
DT: Joshua Farmer
DT: Eric Gregory
OLB: Quintayvious Hutchins

LB: Chad Muma
LB: K.J. Britt

S: Dell Pettus
S: Mike Brown
S: John Saunders
CB: Karon Prunty
CB: Kindle Vildor

Offense

QB: Tommy Devito
RB: Jam Miller

LT: Marcus Bryant
LG: Andrew Rupcich
C: Ben Brown (left with an injury, replaced by Jacob Rizy)
RG: James Hudson
RT: Caleb Lomu

TE: Eli Raridon
TE: Tanner Arkin
WR: Mack Hollins
WR: Kayshon Boutte

Defense forces four turnovers: Most of the plays were made by the Patriots' defense, which forced four turnovers in the first three quarters.

Gabe Jacas got a nice push (about his only highlight), but it was mostly a drop by WR Cameron Owen into the hands of CB Kindle Vildor.

Jeremiah Pharms punched one out at the goal line (recovered by Dell Pettus) that was probably the wrong call, but there aren't any good replays in preseason.

Linebacker KJ Britt showed some nice hustle and punched the ball out from Richardson at the end of a scramble.

Bradyn Swinson had a good rush that pushed into Riley Leonard and resulted in a punt to John Saunders for the interception.

Additionally, DE Bradyn Swinson had a nice rush and batted pass on fourth down in the red zone for another de facto turnover.

"I think they better have," an irked Mike Vrabel said when asked about the turnovers. "I think they better have or there would have been a lot more points that they scored. The turnovers are great, and I love us attacking the football and taking advantage of that. Just a lot of things to clean up, but when you talk about the ability to create turnovers, it can change the game. Just try to defend every blade of grass down there on the goal line, and come up with a big turnover there."

DeVito looks to Kyle Williams for lone touchdown: Through three quarters, Kyle Williams led Patriots receivers with 37 yards on two receptions (three targets). Williams showed off his great release (it's a strength of his) on the team's only touchdown.

Another good hookup with Williams on the next drive.

But DeVito underthrew Williams twice (once for a TD when Mike Vrabel wanted Williams to fight back for the ball) after that.

FOUR UP

WR Kyle Williams: Not a ton of opportunities, but he showed off his route running, and scored a touchdown.

"Oh yeah, you guys were all laughing at me when I told (about Williams' role and speed) the other day," Vrabel said. "But no, you just keep chipping away at it and keep progressing and keep learning and working hard. The guys all understand. The guys in the receiver room, those guys are the first guys down there to celebrate his success, and I think that that's, you just want to see guys that keep working and progressing and then see it translate into the football game."

RB Jam Miller: Had 14 carries for 55 yards (3.9 average), but looked the best of the backs up for the No. 3 job.

ED Bradyn Swinson: Factored into two turnovers and looked way more impactful than Gabe Jacas.

S John Saunders: Forced a fumble and had an interception.

FIVE DOWN

ED Gabe Jacas: Marginally impacted the first interception (it was more Richardson being late and the receiver dropping the pass), but he didn't show much in the pass rush department, and he was totally lost on a couple read options for big gains.

"I will probably have to watch it," Vrabel said when asked about his second-round pick. "I'm not going to talk too much. I challenged him on a kickoff, and he made a tackle. I didn't think that his efforts were maybe good enough on the kickoff. I didn't expect that the guy that was blocking him to be able to block him, and then I challenged him, and he came up with a tackle on the kickoff. So that was a positive, and then we'll just keep coaching him just like the rest of the guys."

RT Caleb Lomu: Only played right tackle and seemed to allow a couple of pressures. Should have been called for a hold once. Had an illegal man downfield penalty that I thought was unfair.

QB Tommy DeVito: Pass protection was decent and he had some opportunities, but he sprayed the ball all over the place until his touchdown drive. Could have put up points before halftime but had two bad throws to Kyle Williams.

"Good," Vrabel said of DeVito. "I thought there may be a couple balls that he'd like to have back. But I thought that there was good operation. I thought there was good placement. I think Mack, he probably should have had the one, and then I think the next one was a little high. But I thought for the most part, he was fairly accurate, and the ball came out on time."

Patriots penalties: They had five for 35 yards, but three of them wiped out gains of 22, 48 and 13 yards.

K Andy Borregales: Missed three kicks, including the potential game-winner from 49 yards. Also missed from 56 and 55 yards. 

"Three," Vrabel said when asked about Borregales' misses. "I don't have a message. We're expected to make them. That's pro football. They're banging them in from 60 yards. They got two kickers on the roster, so Andy knows that we have to make those field goals.

"I'm sure we'll talk about it and see where we're at. I'm not going to make any decision tonight. But again, we're going to have misses. We're going to have mistakes. In everything we do, we just need to be able to come back. We need to be able to bounce back, and we need to be able to answer. Guys are going to drop a pass. Guys are going to miss a block. We're going to miss a kick. But you just have to not let those things pile up, and Andy's been really good with that, and I would anticipate him getting back to work and really starting to focus, and maybe it was a footwork thing or trying to overswing. But I have confidence in Andy. I just, you want to be able to make those, and I think we got in a position to win the football game, and you want to be able to make them."

INJURIES

C/G Ben Brown left and did not return.

G/C Andrew Rupcich did not return.

TWO TAKES BEDARD WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

This product was awful, and I got basically nothing out of this game: No starters in this game for either team, and even the backups didn't stand out that much. I don't know what to tell you. It was bad football and a bad product. Don't think we learned anything from this game. On to the Eagles joint practices.

Patriots need some interior OL depth ASAP: I've been sounding the alarm bell for weeks about the Patriots' issues at guard behind the starters, and now it's reached a critical mass as their best two options — Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich — left the game with injuries. The Patriots might need another backup center if Brown needs to miss extended time. Rupcich and UDFA Jacob Rizy are the other options there.