FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots offense is starting to really come together.
For the first time since late 2016, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, Tom Brady and James White were all on the field at the same time Thursday night, and for most of the night, the results were noticeable. The Pats rolled to a 38-24 win over the Colts Thursday night, as Brady connected with eight different receivers on the way to the second straight win for New England.
Brady ended up going 34-for-44 for 341 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Meanwhile, White had 10 catches for 77 yards and a touchdown, Sony Michel had 18 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. And Edelman finished with seven catches for 57 yards.
Brady and the Patriots came out smoking. The quarterback hit on his first nine pass attempts while firing to a variety of targets, including White, Edelman and Gronkowski, all of whom helped move the chains. The New England offense powered the Patriots to a 24-3 halftime lead with touchdown passes to White and Cordarrelle Patterson and a 1-yard run from Brady.
New England was flat for a large portion of the third and into the fourth, as the Colts — who continued to lose players at an alarming rate with injuries — managed to hang around, eventually cutting the lead to 24-17 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Andrew Luck did as well as he could when it trying to keep Indy in the game, but ultimately, Brady provided all the spark they would need to carry the Pats the rest of the way. He connected on a fourth-quarter touchdown pass for Josh Gordon — a jump ball for the new receiver — that went 34 yards and pushed New England back into a two-score lead. The touchdown pass was the 500th of Brady’s career (third-best in NFL history) and Gordon was his 71st career touchdown target, a new NFL mark. The Patriots piled on with another fourth-quarter score, when Michel polished things off with a 34-yard touchdown run to put the game completely out of reach.
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS
11:37 p.m.: That's it. 38-24.
11:26 p.m.: Luck gets a garbage-time TD on an impressive pass -- 38-24 with 1:27 left.
11:25 p.m.: Two-minute warning. This place is starting to empty out.
11:10 p.m.: And that should really do it -- 34-yarder by Sony Michel. He's up to 92 yards. Extra point is good. 38-17.
11:09 p.m.: Jonathan Jones comes away with the bobble, and it's heading in the other direction. Is that what ends up breaking the Colts?
11:07 p.m.: And yet, the Colts continue to scrap. Nice first-down pickup. Indy is one injury away from pulling guys out of the stands to play, but the Colts are still hanging in.
11:01 p.m.: For Brady, that is the 500th TD pass of his career. 71st different TD target. A new NFL record. Whooooooosh. 31-17 with 9:19 left in regulation. Really good play by Gordon there to make that catch in that situation. First career TD catch with the Patriots.
Josh Gordon gives you that Randy Moss option of just saying "screw it!" and putting it up for grabs pic.twitter.com/AVo2mSUpg6
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) October 5, 2018
Chung LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/7hfefWX225
— New Account (@ftbeard_17) October 5, 2018
Tom Brady finds James White to give the Patriots a 21-3 lead #INDvsNE pic.twitter.com/mbzW6k3KI9
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 5, 2018
AIR BRADY! TD! pic.twitter.com/LEfEsYEvVH
— New Account (@ftbeard_17) October 5, 2018
Vinateri's kick hit the left upright. Groin injuries are very tough injuries to play through for kickers, very painful and effect distance and accuracy. #NEvsIND
— DocFlynn (@jessdeede) October 5, 2018
Mild with temps in the 70s for tailgating before the @Patriots @Colts game at @GilletteStadium Thursday night! Slight risk of a brief passing shower late. #Boston25 pic.twitter.com/VAEWLhbKwK
— Sarah Wroblewski (@sarahwroblewski) October 3, 2018