How the Patriots beat-down of the Colts played out in real time:
4:27-1st play for Indy is quick screen to Reggie Wayne that goes for 7 yards.
4:28-Robert Hughes’ (Colts fullback) 1st carry of the season is good for a 1st down on 3rd and 1.
4:29-20-yard run for Vick Ballard, who said the Patriots’ run defense was good?
4:30-Donnie Avery got behind Kyle Arrington so the Patriots cornerback basically tackled him before he could catch it. 40-yard penalty, the beat goes on for New England’s hopeless secondary.
4:31-Ballard runs to the 1-yard line.
4:32-3rd rushing TD of the season for the Colts, Delone Carter does the honors from 1-yard out. 7-0 Indianapolis, 80-yard drive for the Colts.
4:35-1st play for New England’s offense is a 4-yard run for Stevan Ridley.
4:36-18-yard catch for Julian Edelman on 3rd and 6.
4:36-36-yard catch for Rob Gronkowski, pretty pass from Tom Brady right down the seam. Gronk almost broke it for an even longer gain.
4:38-16-yard catch for Gronk down to the 3.
4:39-4-yard TD catch for Gronk, nice drive for him and Brady to tie it at 7. Indy is similar to New England, their defense is suspect as well.
4:42-Good coverage by the Pats kick coverage pins the Colts at their own 16.
4:42-Luck throws it right to Devin McCourty but he drops it, that doesn’t mean CBS needs to show a replay though.
4:43-13-yard catch by T.Y. Hilton, Phil Simms tells us his name is Eugene. What?
4:43-9-yard run for Ballard, who made Vince Wilfork completely whiff.
4:45-Chandler Jones is sitting on the turf and I suffered my first minor heart attack of the afternoon.
4:47-1st good play by the Patriots defense, Brandon Spikes, Rob Ninkovich and co. stuff Ballard for a 3-yard loss.
4:48-1st throw against Aqib Talib, he didn’t turn around and gave up a 25-yard catch to LaVon Brazill, he should fit in perfectly.
4:50-Things I never thought I’d write: Ballard is running all over the Patriots. 15-yard gain.
4:50-Next play, Talib is burned for a beautiful 14-yard TD catch by Hilton, who slid on his knees in the back of the end zone. 14-7 Colts, 84-yard drive.
4:54-8-yard catch for Brandon Lloyd then a 12-yard catch for Wes Welker on 3rd down.
4:56-16-yard catch for Edelman, who spun out of a tackle by former Patriot Darius Butler. Welcome home Darius!
End of 1st quarter: Colts 14, Patriots 7. No defense allowed in this game, all three combined drives have ended in TDs and New England is at the Indy 39.
4:59-Nate Solder with his own personal tribute to Matt Light as he held Dwight Freeney for a 10-yard penalty.
4:59-8-yard run for Shane Vereen.
5:00-8-yard catch by Welker.
5:00-10-yard catch for Lloyd on 3rd and 4.
5:03-Stephen Gostkowski checks in with a miss on a 36-yard field goal.
5:06-Simms talking about Adam Vinatieri “I saw all his old teammates (Brady and Wilfork?) come talk to him.” Nantz “he won those two Super Bowls for them.” Great job fellas.
5:07-Dont’a Hightower knocks a pass down and on the next play, Alfonzo Dennard blitzes and Wilfork knocks down another Luck pass. 1st punt of the day!
5:09-Just like that, Edelman returns a punt 68 yards for a TD. Patriots tie it at 14 on his 3rd career punt return for a score. He made one cut and then outran everybody down the sideline.
5:14-9-yard run for UConn’s Donald Brown.
5:16-I take back everything I said, Talib is the greatest cornerback in Patriots history. He picked off Luck’s awful pass and weaved his way 59 yards for a TD (4th of his career). 2 return TDs for New England in 61 seconds. Patriots have scored on offense, defense and special teams, 21-14. Wilfork forced Luck to throw it a little differently than he wanted.
5:21-Pats defense is fired up, they take down Ballard for a 3-yard loss.
5:22-11-yard catch for Reggie Wayne.
5:23-6-yard catch for Wayne gives the Colts a much-needed 3rd down.
5:23-Luck just escapes Spikes and throws it away.
5:25-21-yard catch for Brazill, he is really fast.
5:25-10-yard catch for Avery.
5:26-Ballard fumbled but he recovered it.
5:28-2 nice plays in a row for McCourty to break up a pair of passes.
5:29-What do you know? The Patriots blitz and Luck throws an incomplete pass. Colts settle for a 47-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri. It pains me to write this but some morons actually booed him, they should be kicked out of Gillette immediately.
5:32-Nice to see you too Sergio Brown, the former Patriot is caught dropping F bombs on the broadcast after making a special teams tackle.
5:34-15-yard catch for Gronkowski, Indy has nobody that can matchup with him. Not that many other teams do.
5:35-18-yard catch for Welker.
5:36-2-yard loss for Ridley, the Patriots running game has been MIA thus far.
5:36-15-yard catch for Lloyd.
5:37-13-yard run by Vereen.
5:39-Pressure on Brady leads to a deflected pass and an incompletion on consecutive passes. New England will have to take a 31-yard field goal in the red zone.
5:41-Gostkowski gets back on track and hits it, 24-17 Patriots with 1:54 left in 1st half.
5:44-Hilton fumbles the kickoff, a couple Patriots touch it but the Colts recovered it at their own 10. That could have been a huge break for New England.
5:44: 5-yard penalty on Jerod Mayo for illegal use of hands downfield. Nice pass breakup by Dennard on the next play.
5:46-7-yard catch for Brown, it’ll be 3rd and 3 for Indy after a timeout.
5:47-19-yard catch by Avery, who held on despite getting crushed by two Patriots. Another Colts timeout.
5:48-16-yard catch by Dwayne Allen.
5:51-Indianapolis completely butchered the clock at the end of the half and was forced to let Vinatieri to take a 58-yard field goal. He missed what would have been a career-long.
Halftime: Patriots 24, Colts 17
As poorly as it started, New England is in good shape, especially since they get the kickoff to open the 2nd half. The Colts defense has no chance of stopping the Patriots, which is about what you could say about New England’s defense. Welcome to the NFL in 2012, it’s all about the points.
6:06-1st play of the 2nd half, Ridley runs for a loss of 1.
6:07-Brady looks deep for Lloyd down the sideline but it is too far. Seems like a million years since the Patriots had a deep threat (cough, Randy Moss).
6:08-Screen to Edelman goes for 17 yards, he’s having a really good game for him.
6:09-11-yard screen to Welker.
6:09-Ridley finally breaks loose for an 11-yard run (giving him 15 yards on 7 carries).
6:10-The Colts not only aren’t covering Gronkowski, they don’t even want to tackle him. He rumbles for 31 down to the 7.
6:12-2-yard TD catch by Edelman, his second score of the day. All he needs to do is play defense again (like last year) and return a fumble or INT for the trifecta. 31-17 Patriots in control. That was Brady’s 20th TD pass of the season, the 10th time he’s done that (4th most in NFL history).
6:16-Ballard can’t gain positive yards anymore, another 2-yard loss after Spikes takes him down with a host of other Patriots.
6:16-Luck should have a couple interceptions today, good old Steve Gregory drops one right in his hands.
6:17-Wow, nice play by Luck. Ninkovich was draped all over him but he still completed a 16-yard pass to Hilton on 3rd down.
6:18-Colts receivers are helping Luck out, Wayne held on for a 21-yard grab despite McCourty’s big hit.
6:20-Wilfork deflects a pass then almost picks it off but ended up with a big bellyflop onto the turf.
6:23-12-yard gain by Lloyd.
6:26-Hilton comically fumbles the punt return up in the air but it is right to him so he regains it.
6:28-5-yard run for Brown.
6:29-Ninkovich tackles Brown for a 2-yard loss.
6:30-Ninkovich is having a great day, he forced a fumble by Luck and recovered it himself. So maybe we should slow down a little, no need to put Luck in the NFL Hall of Fame quite yet.
6:31-Wow, next play is a 24-yard touchdown to Gronk. 38-17 Patriots. Gronk is the 1st NFL tight end to score 10+ TDs in his 1st 3 seasons. Haha let’s put him in the Hall of Fame.
6:37-Cripes, Mayo didn’t even hit Luck with his helmet. It just looked like he did so he got flagged for it.
6:39-Trevor Scott with a tackle on Ballard for a 4-yard loss, the defense has really stepped up since those first two Indy drives.
6:40-Wayne with a 12-yard catch on 3rd and 10.
6:40-Maybe I spoke too soon, 19-yard catch by Allen.
6:42-11-yard catch by Hilton to close out the 3rd quarter. Patriots lead 38-17.
6:44-Look at Bob Kraft classing it up with Henry Kissinger in his owner’s box today. Suck on that Bon Jovi!
6:45-That’ll do Luck, 87-yard interception return for a TD by Dennard. 2nd INT for New England’s defense plus the punt return for a score and the rout is on, 45-17 Patriots. Awful throw by Luck, it was to the sideline and way behind Wayne. 1st time New England has scored twice on INTs since January 6, 2002 (vs. Carolina)
6:50-8-yard catch for Allen.
6:52-Arrington hits Luck as he throws it, causing the rookie to overthrow Brazill who was wide open on a deep ball.
6:53-18-yard run for Ballard.
6:54-43-yard TD catch for Hilton, Talib was called for illegal contact on the play but Indianapolis obviously took the play. Colts cut it to 45-24, that ends a run of 24 straight points for the Patriots.
6:57-Great Patriots/Thanksgiving trivia: Brady’s 1st NFL completion was to Ron Rutledge on Thanksgiving (in 2000) against the Lions.
7:01-11-yard catch for Gronk.
7:02-14-yard catch by Welker. 51st career game with 300+ yards for Brady.
7:03-47 yards to Edelman on an end round, haha wait what? Maybe this is the guy the Patriots were so high on at the beginning of this season.
7:04-3-yard TD run for Ridley and the Patriots have hung 52 points on the Colts. 7th rushing TD of the season for Ridley.
7:07-7-yard catch for Ballard.
7:09-Dennard breaks up a 3rd down pass to Hilton, Colts punt.
7:10-Edelman almost breaks another punt return for a TD, the punter Pat McAfee took him down after a 49-yard return.
7:11-11-yard run for Vereen.
7:12-Nantz and Simms just revealed their greatest information in broadcast history: Belichick used to be called “Bedcheck Billy” when he was a lowly assistant with the Colts.
7:13-13-yard catch for Welker and in case you’re wondering, Brady is still in there slinging it.
7:14-5-yard run for Vereen.
7:16-Haha the Patriots are just trolling the Colts now, 4-yard touchdown run for Vereen. Thanks for playing Indy, the funny part is that they still could easily be a playoff team in the AFC. 59-24, this ties the Patriots team record for points in a game (Tennessee, 2009)
7:19-11-yard catch for Wayne (puts him over 1000 yards for the season, his 8th). No clue why Luck is still in there, guess they forgot that he’s the franchise.
7:21-13-yard catch by Allen.
7:22-11-yard catch for Allen, who is racking up the garbage time stats along with Luck.
7:22-Arrington tips a pass, picked off by Tavon Wilson. 3 interceptions for Luck today.
7:23-We have a Ryan Mallett sighting!
7:29-20-yard run for Carter and that’ll do it.
Final: Patriots 59, Colts 24. Not exactly the tight game we all expected or it looked like it would be in the first quarter. New England outscored Denver 52-10 after trailing 14-7. Career win No. 199 for Belichick (8th most in NFL history). Many things to be happy about today: Talib’s playmaking ability, Edelman, Gronk and the defense waking up from its slumber. Short week as the Patriots face the Jets on Thanksgiving night in the Meadowlands.
