What we learned from Patriots’ preseason tie with the Colts

The New England Patriots played the opening game of their 2026 preseason against the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. It might have been a relatively uneventful game ending in a 13-13 tie, but there was still a lot to see and take away from.

Some guys seemingly helped themselves, while others had a tough time. Let’s sort through all of it and get into our takeaways from the first game of the season.

Andy Borregales has looked great in training camp, but his practice performance did not translate to the field on Thursday. He hit two field goals from 40 and 52 yards, but also missed from quite badly from 55 as well as from 56 and then from 49 at the end of the game to win. He was solid, and clutch, last year, but his first game as a sophomore was rough.

The hope is that he gets the misses out of his system, but it was a really bad night for the second-year kicker. Maybe Julian Ashby being hurt and having to work with a backup long snapper hurt the operation, but, they’re professionals, so those misses still shouldn’t happen.

I’m not panicking just yet, and neither seems to be head coach Mike Vrabel, but he missed a few field goals during this week’s joint practice, and then missed three on Thursday. That’s not good, and honestly surprising based on what we have seen out of him for most of the summer so far.

In preseason, you want to see what guys have, get everyone ready to play regular season football, and hopefully come out unscathed on the injury front. The Patriots didn’t manage to accomplish the latter on Thursday.

In the first quarter, Ben Brown, who is their top interior backup offensive lineman, went down with an injury. He went from the blue tent to the locker room, which isn’t a good sign. Then, later in the game, Andrew Rupcich got banged up as well even though he remained on the sideline and later gave the all-clear in the locker room. Still, losing two guys at a position where there was already minimal depth is a tough break for the Patriots. The hope is that neither injury is overly serious.

Even though the depth along the offensive line took a hit on Thursday night when Ben Brown and Andrew Rupcich got hurt, I liked what I saw from two depth tackles. Both Marcus Bryant, who played early in the game, and Dametrious Crownover, who played late in the game, had pretty solid games.

There’s probably only one spot after Will Campbell, Morgan Moses and Caleb Lomu at tackle, and right now Bryant should have the clear edge, but Crownover looked competent out there too (albeit against worse competition). I wonder if this performance gets him some run with the second unit to see if he can handle himself with them. Either way, for a position group that just got hit by injury, and already had a ton of questions on the interior, it was nice to at least see a few of the depth tackles register solid performances.
has his ups and downs

Second-string quarterback Tommy DeVito got the start for the Patriots, and had flashes where he looked very good, like his long pass to Cam Dorner that was wiped off because of a penalty, and the touchdown and curl route passes to Kyle Williams. He also missed a bunch of throws as well, including what should have been a deep TD to Williams, which he left short.

Ultimately, his inconsistency is why he is a backup in the first place, and shouldn’t surprise anyone. That said, he has looked good in camp, so I was thinking that he might have a more consistent night. He’s still a fine backup, but I would be worried if… you know what, never mind, I’m not even going to write those words down.

On multiple occasions, big plays were wiped off the board because of ineligible man downfield penalties. One, came against rookie OT Caleb Romu and was a little suspect because he was engaged in a block, while the other was called against guard James Hudson. There were a bunch of other penalties on the offense as well, including a holding call on Lorenz Metz in the fourth quarter.

Overall, the Patriots finished the day with five accepted penalties for a loss of 35 yards. It is something that they are going to have to fix moving forward. Obviously, they played mostly backups, but you still expect better.

It is no secret that the Patriots need more help rushing the passer from the edge, and the play of Jesse Luketa and Bradyn Swinson should be a bright spot for the Patriots. Both looked explosive and pressured the Colts’ quarterbacks multiple times; one of Swinson’s disruptions led to a John Saunders Jr. interception, and one of Luketa’s led to a sack by Joshua Farmer.

The edge room has a few spots up for grabs, and those two looking good could help at least one of them grab a roster spot.

Safety is another of the spots where the Patriots don’t seem to have a ton of quality depth, but John Saunders Jr. had a nice night. He had multiple run stops, an interception with a good return, and also was credited with a forced fumble when he knocked the ball out at the goal line. It might not have been an actual fumble, but the refs missed it, and the Patriots benefitted from a heads-up play.

While Saunders Jr. still appears to be on the outside looking in as far as the 53-man team is concerned. More performances like Thursday’s might help him with his case to get one of the depth spots, though.

The Patriots have a treasure trove of wide receivers including undrafted rookie Cameron Dorner, who has made plays every day of camp. Thursday night was no different.

Dorner didn’t get a ton of opportunities, seeing just three total passes thrown his way. He had a really nice catch on one of those targets that was called back because of a penalty. On the very next play, he caught a screen for a first down. Dorner only had one other target, where the defender made a good play on a back-shoulder throw that came in a little high, but what we saw from him was solid.

I thought it was also notable that he barely played in the second half, meaning that it looks like he might be a tier ahead of the receivers that were playing with third-string passer Behren Morton. His path to the roster is hard to see, but it’s only because of all the guys ahead of him. If he continues his strong play, there’s a chance that someone else will pick him up if he ends up on waivers.

The Patriots put Terrell Jennings on season-ending injured reserve ahead of Thursday’s game, which means that the RB3 job is now fully up for grabs. Jam Miller, Lan Larison, and newcomers JaMichael Hasty and Hassan Haskins all looked pretty good at times versus Indianapolis.

Miller and Haskins are your more bruising backs, and the Patriots do seem to want that, but Larison and Hasty both run hard as well, and are threats in the passing game while also returning kicks. Time will tell who ends up taking that third spot — although my money is on Miller or Larison — but there was no clear winner in the race on Thursday night.
Bowl awaits

With the first preseason game in the books, the Eagles are set to come to town next week for two joint practices, and then obviously the game next Saturday night. I would imagine that those two practices, which happen on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 19 and 20, are going to be absolutely jam-packed. It should be a great opportunity for the Patriots to go against a very good team, and see how good this roster really is. And while preseason games are nice, it’s the joint practices that matter the most, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how the Patriots stack up.

Of course, you have the added storyline of A.J. Brown seeing his old team again, and you have to wonder if there might be some animosity between a few of the players. It should be a lot of fun either way, and if you have a chance to go, I would strongly recommend it. If you’re going though, make sure you get there nice and early to try to beat the crowd and get a seat, otherwise, you might end up standing on one of the Gillette Stadium ramps watching from a mile away.

For more on training camp, please click here.