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New England 59, Colts 24
FOURTH QUARTER UPDATE
Luck had 334 passing yards to set the NFL rookie record with a fifth 300-plus game.
Indianapolis was intercepted one final time and New England held the ball until 40 seconds remained before punting. Indianapolis got the ball at its four-yard line with 28 seconds left.
Shane Vereen scored on a four-yard run with 3:55 to go to make the score 59-24. It was a 39-yard scoring drive for New England.
Indianapolis was forced to punt and after a long return by Edelman, the Patriots started at the Colts' 39-yard line with seven minutes left in the game.
New England re-established its 28-point lead when Stevan Ridley scored on a three-yard run with 9:05 left. The 80-yard drive had a 47-yard reverse by Edelman.
End Cory Redding left the game with a hip injury and was taken to the locker room.
The Colts cut the score to 45-24 on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Luck to Hilton with 12:32 remaining. Hilton has 100 reception yards, his third 100-plus game of the season, tying Andre Rison's (1989) seasonal record by a rookie. Hilton joins John Mackey (1963), Preston Pearson (1968), Marshall Johnson (1975), Anthony Gonzalez (2007) and Austin Collie (2009) for the second-most rookie touchdown receptions in a game. Marvin Harrison (3 at Kansas 12/15/96) holds the club rookie records. It was a five-play, 74-yard drive.
A 57-yard drive to the New England 23 ended on the first play of the quarter when cornerback Alfonzo Dennard intercepted a Luck pass and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown. It marked the first game since 2008 the Colts had two interceptions returned for scores in a game. New England leads, 45-17.
THIRD QUARTER UPDATE
End Rob Ninkovich forced a sack-fumble of Luck on the Colts' third scrimmage play, and New England recovered at the Indianapolis 24. It took Brady one play to convert, hitting Gronkowski on a strike to make the score 38-17 with 3:22 left in the quarter. This marked Gronkowski's fifth touchdown against the Colts in the last two games in the series.
New England got one first down and reached its 20 before having to punt. After a 61-yard punt by Zoltan Mekso, the Colts took over at their 25-yard with 4:53 left in the quarter.
Indianapolis moved for two first downs and reached the New England 39 before punting. McAfee's 35-yard punt was downed at the Patriots' four-yard line.
New England took a 31-17 lead on a two-yard pass from Brady to Edelman 3:53 into the second half. It was a 76-yard drive where New England had four plays gain double-digit yards, including a 17-yard third-down completion from Brady-to-Edelman. Their scoring play also came on third down as the Patriots took their largest lead of the game.
Donnie Avery has a concussion and will not return.
SECOND QUARTER UPDATE
Indianapolis barely missed a half-ending score when Vinatieri was wide left on a 58-yard attempt.
A drive that had four plays gain 61 yards (three passes, one rush) took the ball for the Patriots from their 25 to the Colts' 13, but two incompletions forced New England to kick a 31-yard field goal with 1:54 left in the half. It was a 10-play drive that covered 62 yards. Gostkowski's field goal made the score 24-17.
Indianapolis pieced together a 12-play drive from its 19 to the New England 29. Three incompletions forced a 47-yard field goal attempt that was converted by Adam Vinatieri with 5:46 left in the half. Luck had four completions on the drive as the Colts cut the deficit to 21-17.
New England took its first lead, 21-14, when cornerback Aqib Talib intercepted a Luck pass on the Colts' second scrimmage play, returning the theft 59 yards for a score. It was the second Patriots touchdown in 1:01 on the game clock. It marked the first scoring interception of a Luck pass.
Three straight passes failed for Indianapolis, the club's first three-and-out. After a penalty on fourth down, Edelman fielded a 47-yard punt by Pat McAfee and returned the kick 68 yards for a tying touchdown. The return tied the game, 14-14, three minutes into the period.
New England moved from its 25-yard line to the Indianapolis 18, using 11 plays and doing so predominantly through the air, but kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 36-yard field goal wide right and the Colts took possession early in the quarter.
FIRST QUARTER UPDATE
Indianapolis used 10 plays to move 84 yards for a 14-7 lead with 1:44 left in the quarter. Andrew Luck hit T.Y. Hilton on a 14-yard touchdown pass. Rookie receiver LaVon Brazill had a key 25-yard reception on the drive. The Colts had a five-five rush-pass mix on the march.
New England knotted the game on a four-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski. Brady had completions of 18 yards to Julian Edelman and 36 and 16 yards to Gronkowski prior to the score. It was an 81-yard drive in eight plays.
After a touchback, Indianapolis started at its 20. Using seven plays, the Colts moved 80 yards for the score. Delone Carter burst over from one yard out. Indianapolis stayed on the ground on five plays, with Vick Ballard peeling off runs of five and 20 yards. A 40-yard pass interference penalty put the Colts at the New England six-yard line just before the score.
New England won the coin toss and deferred. Indianapolis will receive.
COLTS GAME-DAY DEACTIVATIONS:
CB-Vontae Davis
LB-Mario Harvey
OT-Bradley Sowell
NT-Josh Chapman
DT-Marvin Tevaseu
OT-Tony Hills
TE-Coby Fleener
EXPECTED LINEUP CHANGES FOR COLTS:
Weslye Saunders starts at TE for Coby Fleener
Cassius Vaughn starts at CB for Vontae Davis
COLTS PRE-GAME NOTES:
Andrew Luck needs one more 300 game to set the NFL rookie record. He currently is tied with
Peyton Manning (4, 1998) for the club and NFL record by a rookie quarterback.
Luck needs 369 passing yards to join Manning (3,739, 1998) as the only Colts rookies to throw for 3,000 yards. He needs 119 completions and 1,109 yards to eclipse Manning's rookie club records (326; 3,739).
Earlier this year, Luck joined Cam Newton as the only players with three 300 games in the first four games of a career. Against Miami in week nine, Luck threw for 433 yards to eclipse Newton's (432) previous NFL rookie record.
Luck has taken every offensive snap and has had a major hand in the club's successes. He became the first NFL rookie quarterback since 1971 to lead a September fourth-quarter comeback win in the club's week two triumph over Minnesota.
After the Green Bay win, Luck became the first NFL rookie to pass for 1,200 yards (1,208) and record at least two wins in his team's first four games. After the Cleveland win, he was the first NFL rookie with 1,500 passing yards (1,674) and three wins in a team's first six games.
After the Tennessee win, Luck had the highest winning percentage (.571) by a rookie quarterback who was a top overall pick through week eight in NFL history.
He won AFC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors for his outing against Miami. Luck completed 30-of-48 passes for 433 yards and two touchdowns. In facing then the NFL's best third-down defense, he completed 13-of-17 third-down passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, converting 12 third downs via the air on that down. He helped the club run at least eight scrimmage plays on eight game-opening possessions. Luck set the NFL record for best winning percentage by a top overall pick through week nine (5-3, .625; minimum two starts).
Luck (.667) has the best winning percentage through nine games by a rookie QB who was first overall pick in Super Bowl era (6-3; minimum three starts).
The franchise mark for starting QB wins by a rookie is nine by Chris Chandler in 1988 (9-4 for season).
Luck has hit 208-of-362 passes for 2,631 yards, with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. His yardage total is the most ever produced by an NFL rookie through nine games.
Luck is averaging 292.3 passing yards a game, 8th-most in the NFL and most among rookie QBs.
Luck leads AFC QBs with 159 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. The rushing touchdowns broke the previous club seasonal record of four by Bert Jones (1974) and Peyton Manning (2001, 2006).
Reggie Wayne has receptions in 105 straight games. He leads active NFL receivers with 182 career games played. Wayne (145) is one of six Colts ever to start more than 100 consecutive games (208, Peyton Manning; 115, C-Ken Mendenhall; 104, DE-Fred Cook; 102, DB-Jason Belser; 101, OT-Tarik Glenn). He has played in 175 straight games, the league's best streak by a WR.
Wayne (931, 12,639) is 13th in NFL career receptions. The player ahead of Wayne is Art Monk (940, 12th). He is 16th in NFL reception yards. Next on the yardage list is Monk (12,721, 15th).
Against New York, Wayne became the 14th NFL player with 900 career receptions.
Against Green Bay, Wayne (13-212, 1 TD) produced his highest yardage day (200 vs. Dallas 12/5/10) and became the first Colts receiver with two career 200 regular-season games. His yardage ranked only behind Raymond Berry (224 at Washington 11/10/57) and it was the fifth 200 game in club regular-season history (224, Berry; 212, Wayne; 210, Roger Carr at NY Jets 10/24/76; 203, Reggie Langhorne at Washington 11/7/93; 200, Wayne). Wayne became only the seventh player since 1990 to have a 200 game in a 10th career season or later (James Lofton, Irving Fryar, Jerry Rice, Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, Terrell Owens (2), Wayne (2)).
He earned the AFC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors for the first time in his career.
The Colts are 28-12 when Wayne tops 100 reception yards, 20-12 when he has at least eight receptions, 54-13 when he scores a touchdown.
Wayne (76) ranks third in Colts history in career touchdowns (128, Marvin Harrison; 113, Lenny Moore). His 76 touchdown receptions are second-most to Harrison (128).
Wayne has 12,639 career scrimmage yards, second in Colts history (14,608, Marvin Harrison; 12,065, Edgerrin James).
Wayne's 69 receptions and 931 reception yards are the most for him through nine games in any season of his career.
Wayne needs three receptions at New England to tie Cris Carter's NFL record (58, 1993-97) for the most consecutive games with three or more receptions. Wayne has receptions in 176 of 182 career games. He has multiple receptions in 171 outings and three or more receptions in 152 contests.
Wayne has 103.4 yardage average this year.
Wayne (931) is closing in on his eighth 1,000-yard season. Reaching that plateau will tie him with Marvin Harrison (8, 1999-2006) for the club record. Wayne had seven consecutive from 2004-10, the second-longest consecutive streak in franchise history.
If Wayne leads the team in receptions in 2012, it will be his seventh time doing so, ranking behind Marvin Harrison (9) and Raymond Berry (8) in club history, but it would tie Harrison's (6, 1999-04) club mark for the most consecutive seasons leading the team.
The Green Bay game was Wayne's 15th with 10 receptions, one behind Marvin Harrison's club record. Jerry Rice (17) is the all-time leader, while Wes Welker (16) is tied with Harrison for second-most. Wayne is tied with Andre Johnson (16) for fourth-most. Wayne (2007-08) is tied with Johnson (2008) and Brett Perriman (1995) for the NFL lead with three straight games with 10 catches.
Against Green Bay, Wayne became the 16th NFL player with 40 career 100 games (76, Jerry Rice; 64, Randy Moss (active); 59, Marvin Harrison, 51, Terrell Owens; 50, Don Maynard; 47, Torry Holt; 47, Michael Irvin; 46, Jimmy Smith; 45, Isaac Bruce; 43, Tim Brown; 43, James Lofton; 42, Cris Carter; 41, Lance Alworth; 40, Steve Largent; 40, Steve Smith (active)). Rice, Maynard, Irvin, Lofton, Alworth and Largent are Hall-of-Famers.
Antoine Bethea has 74 tackles this season and has 765 for his career. Bethea is one of seven Indianapolis Colts to top 700 career tackles (1,149 Jeff Herrod; 1,052, Duane Bickett; 785, Jason Belser; 754, Gary Brackett, 744, Eugene Daniel).
Kicker Adam Vinatieri has scored in the last 139 consecutive games. His 53-yard field goal with eight seconds left against Minnesota was the 24th game-winning kick of his career.
Against Tennessee, Vinatieri became the eighth player in NFL history to reach 400 career field goals. Vinatieri has 491 career field goal attempts, 10th in NFL history (Jason Elam is ninth at 540). Vinatieri (664) needs 15 points to move past Lenny Moore (678) for fourth-place in Colts career scoring.
Vinatieri needs one field goal from the 50 -range for his eighth with the club. He is tied at seven with Raul Allegre and Cary Blanchard behind the club leaders (18, Dean Biasucci; 14, Mike Vanderjagt).
Vinatieri needs 30 points for his 15th career 100-plus point season. It would be his fifth with the Colts, second to Mike Vanderjagt (8).
Linebacker Jerrell Freeman topped the club in tackles in each of the first seven games before the streak was ended vs. Miami. Freeman had 13 at Chicago, 18 vs. Minnesota, 16 vs. Jacksonville, 11 vs. Green Bay, 19 at New York, seven vs. Cleveland and 15 at Tennessee, and he was involved in takeaways in two of the first three outings – scoring interception return at Chicago; forced fumble against Minnesota. Freeman is the first Colts undrafted player ever to return an interception for a touchdown in a career debut, and was the first to do so in the since 1987 (LB-Peter Noga; DB-Paul Tripoli).
Against Jacksonville, T.Y. Hilton became the first NFL rookie receiver this year to post a 100-yard game when he had 113 yards against Jacksonville 9/23. He was 6-102, 1 TD vs. Miami for his second 100 outing. Hilton joins Ray Perkins (1967), Bill Brooks (1986), Marvin Harrison (1996) and Anthony Gonzalez (2007) for the second-most 100 outings by a Colts rookie receiver (3, Andre Rison, 1989).
Linebacker Dwight Freeney (104.5) has recorded sacks against 27 of 31 teams. Detroit, the club's opponent on 12/2, is one of four teams Freeney has not produced a sack against. Freeney has 25 career multiple-sack games, including five three-plus sack games. He has sacked 52 different quarterbacks. Freeney has seven of the 17 double-digit sack seasons in club history.
Linebacker Robert Mathis (89.5) has sacks in eight straight games. In 2005, he set an NFL record with sacks in eight consecutive games to start a season. Mathis has 20 career multiple-sack games, including two three-plus sack games. Mathis has four of the 17 double-digit sack seasons in club history.
The Colts are 26-8 when Freeney and Mathis combine for sacks. They each produced 10 sacks in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2010 to set the NFL mark for most seasons with teammates doing so together. They surpassed Reggie White and Clyde Simmons by doing so. They have combined for 20-plus sacks in five different seasons (26.5, 2004; 22.5, 2005; 22.0, 2008; 23.0, 2009; 21.0, 2010).
Against Miami, Mathis became 14th Colts player and the ninth of the Indianapolis era, to reach 100 regular-season victories with the club: 141 games, QB-Peyton Manning; 132, QB-John Unitas; 132, C-Jeff Saturday; 127, TE-Justin Snow; 122, WR-Reggie Wayne; 118, WR-Marvin Harrison; 114, P-Hunter Smith; 109, P-David Lee; 108, OT-Ryan Diem; 107, LB-Dwight Freeney; 107, LB-Don Shinnick; 106, DE-Ordell Braase; 105, C/LB-Dick Szymanski; 100, Mathis.
Bruce Arians is the sixth interim head coach in club history (1972, John Sandusky, nine games; 1974, Joe Thomas, 11; 1984, Hal Hunter, one; 1991, Rick Venturi, 11 games; 2005, Jim Caldwell, one game).
In beating Green Bay, Arians was the only Colts interim coach to win his first game. Arians (5-1) set the franchise record for the most wins by an interim field leader in the 27-10 victory at Jacksonville.
Sandusky was 4-5 in the games in 1972 when he succeeded Don McCafferty. His four wins under those interim conditions stood as the club mark until Arians tied him with the team's 23-20 victory over Miami this year. Thomas was 2-9 in 1974 after succeeding Howard Schnellenberger, while Venturi was 1-10 in his outings in 1991 after replacing Ron Meyer. Hunter lost the final game in 1984 after the departure of Frank Kush. Caldwell lost his one game in the absence of Tony Dungy.
The only interim coaches in NFL history with nine wins (according to Stats LLC) are Wally Lemm (9-0, Houston, 1961; replaced Lou Rymkus) and Hamp Pool (9-2, LA Rams, 1952; replaced Joe Stydahar).
COLTS-NEW ENGLAND NOTES
The Colts and Patriots have met annually in regular season since 2003 and have 12 overall games played since then (Patriots lead, 7-5).
This is the 73rd regular season meeting between the Colts and Patriots, the most times the Colts have faced a single opponent.
The Colts are seeking a fifth straight win for the first time since having a 23-game winning streak from 2008-09.
There have only been 12 times when a franchise was won 100 or more regular season games in a decade, but the Colts (115, 2000-09) and New England (113, 2000-09) are two of them. The Colts own the most ever in a decade, while New England is tied with San Francisco (1990-99) for the second-highest total.
Donnie Avery has two 100-plus reception yardage games this season, setting a seasonal-best.
The Colts and Patriots are two of six AFC teams with six or more wins in 2012.
New England's Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are 130-38 (.774) record as a head coach-starting quarterback tandem, the most wins and best percentage by an NFL duo since the 1970 Merger.
Don Shula and Dan Marino had 116 victories with Miami (116-68), while John Madden and Ken Stabler had a .756 percentage (60-19-1) with Oakland.
Brady has a touchdown pass in 41 straight games, the third-longest streak ever (52, Drew Brees, current; 47, John Unitas).
New England is 70-14 at home in the regular season since 2002, the NFL's best mark.
New England is 36-8 at home in the regular season after Halloween since 2002, the NFL's best mark.
New England is 17-0 in the second half of the season since 2010.
New England has out-rushed six opponents in 2012, and its two highest games are 252 and 247 yards, plus it leads the league with 92 rushing first downs.
Wes Welker (66) needs 34 receptions to become first NFL player with five 100-catch seasons.
Welker is first in NFL with 3,720 yards after the catch since 2007, more than 1,000 yards ahead of his nearest competitor.
