The Colts beat the Patriots on Saturday behind another dominant performance from Jonathan Taylor, in which the MVP candidate had 170 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
It was another victory where Carson Wentz didn’t have to do much but be a caretaker, as he completed only five passes for 57 yards with a touchdown. But Wentz did help get the Patriots back in it when he threw an interception.
After a poor fifth season with Philadelphia, Wentz has had a nice bounce-back year with Indianapolis in 2021. He’s completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,005 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions — good for a 95.3 passer rating. He’s also cut his sacks in half, going from a 10.3 percent sack rate last year to 5.1 percent with the Colts.
But there haven’t been many — if any — games where Wentz has clearly been the deciding factor in a positive manner. Head coach Frank Reich was asked about that on Tuesday, and acknowledged the Colts will probably need one of those kinds of games.
“For us to go where we wanna go, I think there will have to be games where Carson is the quote-unquote star of the game,” Reich said, via Zak Keefer of TheAthletic.com. “I think that’ll have to happen.”
Right now, the Colts are on track to make the postseason. They’re currently the AFC’s No. 5 seed with games against the Cardinals, Raiders, and Jaguars left in the regular season.
Even if Taylor ends up as the MVP, Reich is right — if the Colts are going to make a deep postseason run, Wentz will have to be one of the players that clearly lifts them to victories.
