Part-time comedian Jonas Gray no joke for Patriots against Colts

INDIANAPOLIS – Prior to Sunday night, Jonas Gray's résumé was the stuff of trivia. The kind of thing that drew attention for all the wrong reasons.

Failed expectations as a running back at Notre Dame. … Knee injury. … Undrafted. … Released by three NFL teams. … Part-time stand-up comedian. … Performed an opening set for Screech from "Saved By the Bell". … New England Patriots practice squad player.

Naturally and unfortunately, it's easy to gravitate to the oddity in that list: "Wait, this dude opened up for Dustin Diamond (aka Screech) at a comedy club?" Yes, he did. And yes, he's had a side thing from time to time as a stand-up comedian. He's a funny guy. Now, any football questions?

This was life before Sunday – before Gray went old school and dropped the NFL microphone, rushing 38 times for 201 yards and four touchdowns in a thumping 42-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts. That's right, the New England Patriots may have unexpectedly found another offensive piece. And keeping history in mind, this could be a big, big, big piece. The kind that keeps teams from throttling Tom Brady.

If you watched Sunday, the game plan suggested this wasn't some kind of fluky one-hit wonder. New England's offense was set up to cater to Gray's inside-running strength. The Patriots ran out of two-tight end sets. They ran with a fullback lead. They ran with an extra offensive tackle lined up at the tight end slot. And they converted, over and over, on the Colts' own field. All told, the damage to the Colts was 244 rushing yards – against a defense that had allowed an average of 98.1 per game going into Sunday.

"We kept making yards no matter what personnel group we were in," Brady said. "No matter what the scheme was, we did a great job getting a hat on a hat, getting downhill and making yards. It was awesome."

It was the kind of run-shellacking that left Colts safety Mike Adams asking of Gray afterward, "He had 199 [yards]? I think that's the most all year that we've given up. That's tough. It's hard to beat a team when you can't stop the run. If you can't stop the run, it opens up the pass and Tom Brady … he was throwing dimes."

And there it is. Pretty much that simple. If you can't stop Gray, you likely have no shot at stopping Brady. Eventually, he'll get you, too.

All of which beckons the first two games of the season. Remember those? A tight 16-9 win over the still-winless Oakland Raiders and an embarrassing 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Patriots averaged a pitiful 75.5 rushing yards per game in that pair, and Brady was a Brunswick bowling pin. The Patriots' offensive line was a catastrophe, and the nearest impact wide receiver seemed only as close as the 2015 draft. Remember? Well, that part of the season might as well be a thousand miles away. Maybe even a little farther with Gray's performance on Sunday.

More likely than not, this is the piece that paves the remainder of the Patriots' season. Why? Because Gray looks like a 20-carry between-the-tackles running back. The kind of back who can wear defenses down, swallow clock and stifle the AFC's up-tempo arms race. A back that can strand Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck in their least-effective locale: the sideline. And perhaps most importantly, a running back who is exactly what coach Bill Belichick wants – he cuts off his fullback's blocks, hits the holes that he's supposed to hit, and leans forward for a few extra yards on every carry.

Few knew Gray's name entering this season, largely because of his muted career at Notre Dame – the school Gray chose after an impressive prep career in which he emulated two other backs with Detroit ties: Hall of Famer Barry Sanders and Jerome Bettis. More Bettis than Sanders, the 5-foot-10, 230-pound Gray got lost in a cluttered Fighting Irish backfield for the balance of his career. Finally plugged in as a starter midway through his senior season, Gray led Notre Dame to a 4-0 record in games he started, then blew out his ACL.

For all intents and purposes, his redemptive burst into the NFL was over. He went unselected in the 2012 draft, before signing with the Miami Dolphins and getting stashed on injured reserve for the season. Eventually he was cut before the 2013 season, landed on the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad, released again, signed by the Patriots, then cut again and tossed a practice-squad lifeline by Belichick.

All of which suggests the Patriots didn't value him that much. In reality, New England was looking to get Gray to the active roster even before a knee injury ended the season for Ridley in mid-October.

"We really talked about bringing him up on the roster [and off the practice squad] several weeks before," Belichick said. "… I had several conversations with him in previous weeks telling him, 'You know that you're close. We want to try and get you on the roster right now, but we have a couple of other issues that we have to deal with.' I think we all felt as a coaching staff that he would be playing for us at some point this season."

Which was good news. Gray's stand-up comedy career (maybe a half-dozen stints on stage since taking it up in college) hasn't exactly taken off. But if Sunday is a true indication, he might have finally found his NFL niché. Not that we haven't heard this punchline before, with guys like Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, LeGarrette Blount and others.

Really, nobody has brought it all together for New England since Corey Dillon. And while it might be a bit much to expect that kind of impact by Gray, it's worth noting that no Patriots running back has ever scored four touchdowns in a single game. Not even eventual Hall of Famer Curtis Martin. It's also worth noting that the Patriots planned for Sunday night's results, to the point that even owner Bob Kraft had an inkling about what was coming.

"On Saturday I remember walking into the building. And Mr. Kraft pulled me aside and said, 'You're going to have a big game this week, so be ready,' " Gray said. "Just hearing that from the owner, hearing that from the head coach, hearing that from the leaders of the team – it definitely gives you a positive outlook."

All of which sums up the forecast for this team: positive. The Patriots have hammered the best the AFC has to offer in Indianapolis and Denver. And New England would like nothing more than to see Kansas City again in the postseason.

Unless something goes awry, the AFC playoffs are likely headed to Foxboro, with a newfound running back paving the way. And regardless of what Gray's résumé might have said before – that's no joke.