INDIANAPOLIS, IN — New England returned to Indianapolis on Sunday and continued right from where they left off three weeks ago when the two teams met in Foxboro. The game was a mirror image of the first and the Patriots again pummeled the Colts, this time to the tune of 38-17.
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning finished the afternoon 22-of-34 for 335-yards and a touchdown, runningback Edgerrin James ran 30 times for 143 yards, and wide receiver Marvin Harrison caught 8-passes for 157 yards including a touchdown pass. Despite 484 yards in total offense, the Colts never recovered from their 28-6 halftime deficit and dropped to 2-3 on the season.
As for the Patriots they saw another solid performance from quarterback Tom Brady who finished the day 16-of-20 for 202 yards and three touchdowns, but the real story was wide receiver David Patten. Patten became the first player since Walter Payton did it back in 1979 to run, catch, and throw for a touchdown in the same game. He ran for a 29-yard touchdown off of a double reverse on the Patriots’ first offensive play, threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to fellow receiver Troy Brown, and caught two touchdowns, one of which was for 91-yards, the longest play from scrimmage in team history.
He finished the afternoon with 4-catches for 117-yards and two touchdowns.
The Patriots now find themselves at 3-3 on the season and are tied for second place with the NY Jets who lost to St. Louis on Sunday. The Miami Dolphins currently sit in first place at 3-2 and were idle this week.
It appeared from the time the game began that New England was ready to play, and on the first series of the game the Patriots blocked a 46-yard field goal attempt by Mike Vanderjagt which helped set up Patten’s touchdown run to give New England a 7-0 lead with 10:43 remaining in the first quarter.
The Colts answered on their next possession with a 42-yard field goal, but the Patriots later struck again midway through the second quarter on a 91-yard touchdown pass to David Patten who sprinted down the field and into the endzone to increase New England’s lead to 14-3. The Patriots defense forced Indianapolis to go three-and-out on their next possession, and on New England’s first play from scrimmage Brady threw what appeared to be a wide receiver screen to Patten, and Patten turned and threw a perfect 60-yard touchdown strike to Troy Brown who caught the ball in stride and never looked back. New England lead 21-3 at that point.
On their next possession Indianapolis runningback Edgerrin James coughed up the football after Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson knocked the ball out and Tedy Bruschi recovered it at the Colts 24-yard line. Six plays later Brady hit tight end Jermaine Wiggins on a two-yard touchdown pass and the lead became 28-3.
Indianapolis would later add a field goal before the end of the half and the Patriots went into the locker room with a 28-6 lead.
The Colts scored on their first possession of the second half following a 24-yard pass to Marcus Pollard which helped set up a 2-yard touchdown strike to receiver Marvin Harrison. Indianapolis would convert the two-point conversion and cut the lead in half at 28-14.
That was as close as they’d get.
Both teams traded field goals making the score 31-17, but it was the Patriots who would put the final nail in the coffin. Following a 38-yard pass interference penalty on David Macklin New England found themselves with first and goal at the Colts 3-yard line, and two plays later it was Patten again who would catch a 6-yard TD strike from Brady to finish what would would be a historic performance for him.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
