Brady Reaches 500-TD Milestone In Patriots Win
Tom Brady’s NFL career has been full of milestones he may not truly cherish given that there’s be so many.
A storybook career of a quarterback drafted with the 199th pick in the NFL Draft, Brady’s touchdown ball to Josh Gordon is one he’ll hang onto forever.
The New England Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 38-24 on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.
New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady would throw his 500th touchdown pass in a 341-yard, 3-TD pass night vs the Colts.
It was an adventure getting there for Brady, who’s playing in his 19th NFL season at age 41, but he and the Patriots will take it.
In addition to his 500th touchdown, third most all-time, Tom Brady broke Vinny Testaverde’s NFL record for touchdowns to a different receiver of 70 with his touchdown pass to Josh Gordon, the 71st different receiver to get a touchdown from Brady.
New England would finish with 440 total yards. Indianapolis would win the time of possession 32:26 to 27:34.
The New England Patriots (3-2) picked up where they left off last Sunday in a 38-7 victory over the Miami Dolphins.
New England would go to an up-tempo offense on a 12 play/75 yard touchdown drive to begin the game.
Tom Brady would hit wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson for a 1-yard touchdown to give New England a 7-0 first quarter lead.
Facing a team he has not had success against in his career, Andrew Luck’s night got off to a painful start as he was drilled by a combo of defensive end Trey Flowers and safety Patrick Chung on his first drop back of the game for a sack.
Indianapolis would go three and out on that drive and would come away with zero points on their next drive after kicker Adam Vinatieri’s 38-yard field goal attempt sailed off the left uprights late in the first quarter.
That would prove costly as New England’s lead would become 14-0 after a diving score from Tom Brady at the goal line early in the second quarter.
New England would get another touchdown from Tom Brady in the second quarter, a 6-yard touchdown pass to James White, as the Patriots took a 24-3 lead into the half vs a Colts team ravaged by injuries before and during the game.
After forcing a three-and-out against New England on New England’s first offensive drive and getting 33-yard punt return from Chester Rodgers — who finished the game with 8 catches for 66 receiving yards — Indianapolis would finally get in the endzone.
Starting the drive at New England’s 35-yard line, Andrew Luck would find tight-end Eric Ebron for a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it a 24-10 game at the 9:48 mark of the third quarter.
Indianapolis’ defense, carved up for much of the game by Tom Brady, would get a much needed gift. Patriots’ wide receiver Chris Hogan would have a pass bounce off his hands into the hands of safety Matthias Farley for a interception on New England’s ensuing drive.
New England’s second half would continue to be stagnated by turnovers as Rob Gronkowski’s dropped pass inside of the redzone that he popped up into the air after a hit turned into yet another interception for Indianapolis.
Indianapolis, stunning a large portion of the Gillette Stadium crowd, would make it a 24-17 game early in the fourth quarter after another Andrew Luck touchdown pass as New England’s lead to their own doing began to slip away from them.
Needing a drive to change the momentum of the game back in New England’s favor, Tom Brady would close in on his latest career milestone.
On a play where he had plenty of time in the pocket to throw, Brady, surveying the field, would launch a 34-yard touchdown pass to newly acquired wide receiver Josh Gordon to give him the 500th touchdown pass of his NFL career.
More importantly, it gave New England a 31-17 lead as Gordon managed to make a catch over double coverage in the endzone.
New England would have their turn at getting a self-inflicted wound from their opponent as Colts’ wide receiver Zach Pascal’s bobble of a Andrew Luck pass was deflected into the air for an interception by corner back Jonathan Jones.
That interception would result in a game sealing touchdown on New England’s next possession as rookie running back Sony Michel would score on a 34-yard touchdown run to make it a 38-17 game.
After New England’s 1-2 start, there was once again the typical chirping going on that the demise of the Patriots was near.
After two wins in a span of five days, New England is feeling good about themselves, but Bill Belichick certainly won’t go easy on his team after a sloppily played second half.
New England is hoping to get great things from Josh Gordon, who they traded for from the Cleveland Browns in September.
On a night where the New England Patriots welcomes back wide receiver Julian Edelman (7 catches, 57 yards) there were glimpses of what New England’s offense could become this season.
The Patriots defense, maligned after two tough weeks on the road in Weeks 2 and 3, looked strong throughout the game.
The only negatives to takeaway for the unit was their inability to not capitalize on Luck’s questionable decision making.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots will have 10 days to prepare for the Kansas City Chiefs in Foxborough as that will mark the end of a three-game homestand.
Indianapolis (1-4) had been in all three of their previous losses to start the season, but greatly undermanned on the road vs a good football team was too much to overcome.
Andrew Luck and the Colts offense turned in a lackluster outing minus top pass catcher T.Y. Hilton as well as tight-end Jack Doyle. A bright spot for Indianapolis’ offense was Eric Ebron, who finished with a game-high 9 receptions for 105 receiving yards and 2 TDs.
Luck in his past two games has 121 pass attempts, a scary number for a guy coming off of a serious right shoulder injury that sidelined him for all of 2017.
For a team that ranks near the bottom of the NFL in rushing yards, Indianapolis Colts’ head coach Frank Reich will have his hands full lowering that number for Luck.
Indianapolis will have 10 days to prepare for a visit to East Rutherford to take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
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