FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – On a night when he reached 500 career touchdown passes, Tom Brady welcomed back a buddy and threw for three scores Thursday, leading the New England Patriots to a 38-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Brady also sneaked in for a rushing touchdown as New England put together its second straight win after a mediocre start to the season.
Brady's 500th touchdown pass went to Josh Gordon, recently acquired from Cleveland, where he basically was unavailable through NFL suspensions for all but five games over the past three seasons. But, as he often does, Brady spread the wealth, hitting running back James White 10 times for 77 yards, and greeting the return of buddy Julian Edelman by completing seven passes for 57 yards to him.
"We wanted to get him the ball and he made some great plays," Brady said about Edelman, who returned from a four-game PED suspension following a serious injury in 2017. "Just good to have him out there. We all want it to be perfect when we go out, and it was great to have him out there ... healthy and having fun."
As for 500 TD passes, third on the career list behind Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (508), Brady called it a collective mark.
"I think all these things like that, milestones, there are so many people that contribute, all the people that have really worked hard," he said. "A quarterback doesn't throw to himself.
"These are all great team awards, pretty cool."
The five-time NFL champion also tied Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri, a former teammate, for most victories with 226.
