Patriots after a bye week

Photo courtesy of Jim Rogash/Getty Images

The Patriots machine is back! After resting during the bye week, New England will face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football.

Since their blowout loss to Kansas City back on October 5th, New England has responded by rattling off five straight wins. The team has simply caught fire!

As the Pats prepare for the Colts, I can't help but hope that the bye week doesn't kill our momentum. Offensively, New England is averaging 31.2 points per game, third best in the league behind the Colts and Broncos. Tom Brady has thrown 18 TD's and only one interception* after their embarrassing loss to the Chiefs. Everything just seems to be clicking on the offensive side of the ball.

On the other side of the ball, the defense faces another tough test as they look to shutdown Andrew Luck & company. During week 9, the Patriots defense showed us what they are capable of confusing high powered offenses. They will face an offense that leads the league in total yards (451.2) and passing yards (337.4).

While I have my concerns coming off a bye and going into Indianapolis, my faith is restored when I look at their record after the bye week. During the Belichick era, New England sports a 10-4 record after the bye. Their most recent loss after the bye came at the hands of a missed pass interference call against the Carolina Panthers.

Sunday's game will be another test to determine what the Patriots are made of. Hopefully, the Patriots still can keep their winning ways after having the week off.


* - Shout out to BShizzle12 for the stat correction!


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