Thursday Night Football features an AFC matchup between the New England Patriots (2-2) and the Indianapolis Colts (1-3) at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady received good news as he found out today that his favorite target, tight end Rob Gronkowski, will play tonight despite suffering an ankle injury on Sunday that limited him in practice this week.
New England will also see the return of Julian Edelman after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.
This game will mark the first time since Nov. 27, 2016, that both Edelman and Gronkowski are on the field together during the regular season.
New England enters the game on a positive note after beating Miami 38-7 at home in a crucial matchup that handed the Dolphins their first loss of the season and prevented them from taking a two-game lead in the division. Meanwhile, the Colts lost 37-34 in an overtime battle at home to the Houston Texans suffering their second loss in a row.
It’s not a good time for the Colts to play on a short week as they are dealing with several key injuries, but perhaps none more important than the one to receiver T.Y Hilton, who is an important target for Luck and the number one playmaker for a team that doesn’t that many playmakers to begin with.
Hilton will miss this game with chest and hamstring injuries suffered in the loss to the Texans.
To succeed in this game the Colts must try to stay aggressive by attacking the Patriots cornerbacks and linebackers in order to keep the chains moving and get easier third downs to convert.
This season the Colts have been surprisingly good in third down as Andrew Luck has done a great job extending the play and finding receivers downfield so New England will have to play great defense in those situations to stop them from going on long sustained drives that would allow them to come away with points.
If they get a solid lead look for the Patriots to attack the Colts with their ground game in order to keep the Colts off the field and control the time of possession. As a result expect running backs, Sony Michel and James White, to constantly see action tonight.
Michel, a rookie out of Georgia, had an outstanding game against the Dolphins with 112 yards rushing and a touchdown. White gets the job both on the ground and through the air as last week he rushed for 44 yards and a score and caught eight passes for 68 yards and another score.
With Edelman coming back and Gronkowski avoiding a bullet the Pats will have all their weapons available for the first time this season. Expect the Patriots to dominate this game as the Colts injury list is too big for them to have a chance in this game on the road.
Prediction: Patriots 30 – 20 Colts
