3 positives from the New England Patriots loss to the Indianapolis Colts

The New England Patriots and their fans had to wake up this morning feeling a bit better about their playoff odds despite suffering a tough loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night. The Patriots could have held onto the top seed in the AFC with a win, and they basically would have locked up the AFC East in the process. Instead, they slipped up, and are now set for an extremely important contest against the Buffalo Bills in Week 16.

Despite the loss, things could have been worse for the Patriots. They still find themselves in the number two seed in the AFC after the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens lost yesterday, and they can still clinch the AFC East next week with a win and a Miami Dolphins loss. The Patriots could afford to lose this game. They can’t afford to lose their next one though.

While the Colts should be commended for coming up with a strong gameplan and implementing it well, the Patriots really beat themselves. They committed numerous self-inflicted mistakes throughout the game, and still very nearly managed to pull off a riveting a comeback. These were errors that had been all but eradicated during their recent seven game win streak, but they all bubbled up to the surface at the worst possible time.

Despite New England’s plethora of mistakes, there was still a lot to like about this game once you looked past the outcome. There’s no shame in losing to a top tier team such as the Colts, who continue to look like one of the top teams in the AFC. But now the Pats need to get up, dust themselves off, and come back out swinging. But before they do that, lets take a look at three positive developments from their loss to the Colts.