Patriots 13–13 Colts: how it happened
With the starters watching, New England's backups forced four takeaways, Spencer Shrader answered with a 61-yard tying field goal, and a kicker-decided preseason opener finished all square.
Ties don't carry shame in August, but they do carry information, and the 13-13 draw between the Patriots and Colts at Gillette Stadium on Thursday night was unusually rich in it. With Drake Maye and most of New England's starters watching from the sideline — the real work had come in Tuesday's joint practice — the game became what preseason openers are supposed to be: a long, unfiltered look at the players fighting for the back half of two rosters, decided in the end by the two men whose jobs translate most directly from August to September. The kickers. One of them left Foxborough having hit from 61 yards; the other left having missed three times, including the would-be winner at the gun.
A takeaway avalanche
New England's reserve defense spent the night taking the ball away — four turnovers in all, two interceptions and two forced fumbles, per the team's game notes. Cornerback Kindle Vildor intercepted Anthony Richardson on the Colts' opening drive; safety John Saunders Jr. added a third-quarter pick with a 24-yard return, a night after logging another in the joint practice; Jeremiah Pharms Jr. forced a goal-line fumble that Dell Pettus recovered; and linebacker K.J. Britt punched the ball loose on a Richardson scramble, with Isaiah Iton falling on it. Rookie free agent corner Channing Canada led the team with seven tackles. Head coach Mike Vrabel liked what he saw: "The turnovers are great; I love us attacking the football."
DeVito's night
Tommy DeVito got the start and the entire first half, finishing 13-of-22 for 138 yards and a touchdown — a 12-yard connection with Kyle Williams, who also drew a pair of pass-interference flags and was the most consistently open Patriot on the field. DeVito's opening touchdown drive staked New England to a 10-0 lead. Seventh-round rookie Behren Morton took over in the second half and went 7-of-13 for 66 yards, while the backfield rotation told its own story: Jam Miller ground out 55 yards on 14 carries and converted a fourth-and-1, Lan Larison shared the early work, and newcomer Hasaan Haskins received heavy late usage. The starting lineup itself was a rookie showcase — first-round tackle Caleb Lomu and third-round tight end Eli Raridon both made their debuts, and punter Bryce Baringer quietly boomed a 64-yarder while averaging 51.5 on six punts.
The kicking swing
The game ultimately turned on special teams, in both directions. New England's Andy Borregales drilled a 52-yarder to push the lead to 13-7 but finished just 1-of-4, including a 49-yard attempt at the end that would have won it. Indianapolis's Spencer Shrader was the mirror image: he connected from 46, then detonated a 61-yard field goal to tie the game at 13 with 1:16 remaining, per Roundtable's recap. Morton drove New England into range in the closing seconds; Borregales's miss froze the score.
The Colts' quarterback split
Indianapolis's evening divided cleanly in two. Richardson led the first-half drives and scored on a quarterback sneak just before halftime to cut the deficit to 10-7, but the turnovers — the Vildor interception, the Britt forced fumble — defined his stretch. Riley Leonard ran the second half and engineered the scoring drives that brought the Colts back, a quietly effective relief appearance in a quarterback room that will be scrutinized all month.
What's next
Cutdown day is the lens for everything above: rosters must be trimmed to 53 players at the end of the month, New England placed running back Terrell Jennings on season-ending injured reserve this week, and every takeaway and missed kick shifts someone's odds. For players like Saunders, Canada and Miller, Thursday was the kind of tape that survives a numbers game; for Borregales, it was the kind that invites the front office to browse the waiver wire. The Patriots now turn to a heavyweight week — joint practices with the Eagles on August 19 and 20, then the preseason meeting on August 24 — while the Colts' quarterback hierarchy gets another month of August light shone on it. The kicking charts from those Eagles sessions may be the most closely read pages in Foxborough.