FOXBOROUGH — A pair of rushing touchdowns from fullback James Develin and a strong defensive performance was enough to lift the Patriots past the Vikings Sunday in a rain-soaked Gillette Stadium.
It was the second straight win for New England, which improved to 9-3 on the season. Tom Brady went 24-for-32 for 311 yards with one touchdown and one pick. James White had seven catches for 92 yards and Sony Michel had 17 carries for 63 yards.
New England, which had struggled in red-zone and short-yardage situations, got a boost from the fullback with a 1-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter and a 2-yard burst in the fourth quarter. It turned out to be the difference against one of the best red-zone defenses in the league.
In between, the Patriots and Vikings played it mostly even up, as New England held a 10-7 halftime lead after Adam Thielen hauled in a five-yard touchdown catch from Kirk Cousins.
The Patriots pulled away in the second half with a 24-yard pass play from Brady to Josh Gordon to go up 17-10 late in the third. New England added a late score when Develin finished off a physical drive with his second score of the game and third of the season. The Patriots kept the Vikings at bay the rest of the way, punctuating things with fourth-quarter picks from Jonathan Jones and one in the end zone by Duron Harmon.
IN-GAME UPDATES
7:22 p.m.: Jonathan Jones with the pick that should wrap it up -- 24-10.
7:07 p.m.: Harmon with a fourth-quarter pick. Now THAT should just about end it.
7:03 p.m.: Why are the Patriots throwing here? You have a good thing going on the ground, grind it out and at least kill some clock. Josh McDaniels needs to leave that one off his LinkedIn page at his next head coaching interview. It was also a really nice play by the defender. Brady's first pick since Week 7 vs. the Bears.
7:02 p.m.: People starting to leave after that fourth-down stop. Pats up 14 with 5:30 and change to go.
6:55 p.m.: Belichick to Thielen: "Shut the (bleep) up." Adam Thielen is no longer on Bill Belichick's Christmas card lost.
6:46 p.m.: As weird as this game has been -- two rushing touchdowns from James Develin -- the fact it's now a two-score contest has to make the Patriots feel a little more secure. The Vikes are a little banged up, you have a 14-point lead with 10:54 remaining.....really, this game should be over.
6:45 p.m.: Brown back on the field as Gordon takes in down to the 2.
6:41 p.m.: Trent Brown to the tent. Rob Gronkowski on the field.
6:37 p.m.: That's the end of the third quarter -- Pats up 17-10. Gronkowski sitting on the bench. Brady comes over to talk. Guess here is he avoided serious injury, but we'll see what happens when the offense comes back out.
6:33 p.m.: 24-yard TD pass from Brady to Gordon. Meanwhile, Gronkowski is on the sidelines with the medical staff. He's standing, FWIW, and flexing his knees. 35 seconds left in the third, and the Pats are up, 17-10.
6:32 p.m.: First catch o' the day for Gordon.
6:28 p.m.: J.C. Jackson is a little.....handsy. Look, there's a reason he leads the team in penalties. Sometimes, he goes right up to the line, sometimes, he goes over the line. Que sera sera. Anyway, New England holds the Vikings to a field goal, and it's all tied up at 10 with 2:20 to go in the third quarter. Pats feel like they need an answering drive here to regain momentum.
6:20 p.m.: Lot of play at this point has the Pats' deep safety -- Duron Harmon -- walking down into the box on passing downs.. It's not exclusive, but the deep ball appears to be there for Minnesota.
6:15 p.m.: Boy, this has become a goofy game. No good on the field goal, and it remains 10-7. Let me say I fully endorse the idea of going to Gronkowski in that third-down situation -- Alexander just made a hell of a play on that ball. Wish the Patriots would have tested the secondary more often on that drive. There were some boos -- presumably for the play calling. Can't say I blame them -- not sure McDaniels' thought process there.
6:13 p.m.: Unease here at Gillette Stadium as we pass the midway point of the third quarter. Need a jumpstart here.
6:12 p.m.: Between Patterson's catch and that fourth-down pickup, this is shaping to be a separating-type of drive for the Pats. Hogan just barely got it, but he got it. Except for all of the penalties......
6:10 p.m.: Pats have hit a wall with these penalties. Lots of self-inflicted wounds the last week-plus.
6:07 p.m.: Hell of a catch there by Patterson. Good drive starter for New England.
Cordarrelle Patterson goes low for the grab!
(via @thecheckdown)pic.twitter.com/oPmxsnEqE8
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) December 2, 2018
it took Ezekiel Elliott 56 days to gain 1,000 career rushing yards.
on Sunday, Tom Brady got to 1,000 yards with this scramble.
it took him 6,584 days. pic.twitter.com/vqaMtuZyZb
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) December 2, 2018
.@stefondiggs and @XavierRhodes29_ are officially active for #MINvsNE. pic.twitter.com/kWOHzZ9g9E
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 2, 2018
