Tom Brady threw his 500th career touchdown pass on Thursday night in the New England Patriots’ 38-24 victory against the Indianapolis Colts, becoming the third player in NFL history to do so.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Brady launched the ball 34 yards deep into the end zone at Gillette Stadium on what looked like a long shot. Wide receiver Josh Gordon jumped through two Colts defenders and expertly snagged the ball, coming down with his first touchdown in New England and marking Brady’s 500th.

“I think all these things like that, there’s so many people that contribute,” Brady told reporters after the game. “I just think of all the people that work hard . . . A quarterback doesn’t throw them to himself. These are all great team awards. Pretty cool.”

With Gordon’s score, Brady has thrown a touchdown to 71 different receivers — the most by any quarterback in NFL history. He has joined Peyton Manning (539) and Brett Favre (508) as the only three quarterbacks to reach the 500 mark. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees needs just four more touchdown passes to reach that mark, too.

Brady is the only player to accomplish that feat while playing for only one team.

“It’s tremendous,” coach Bill Belichick told the Boston Globe. “It’s a lot of different touchdown passes to a lot of different guys. No other quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady.”

Gordon finally made his debut in New England last week, nearly two weeks after being traded from the Cleveland Browns. He had been battling a hamstring injury that he sustained in September, though he didn’t seem to show it against the Colts.

The 27-year-old had two receptions for 50 yards and one touchdown on Thursday, though he was targeted only four times.

“That was a great play Josh made, jumping over the top of two defenders,” Brady said. “That shows the confidence I have in him in a short amount of time.”

Brady finished the game completing 34 of 44 passes for 341 yards yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. His other two touchdown passes on the night came in the form of a 1-yard pass to Cordarrelle Patterson to start the game and a 6-yard pass to James White in the second quarter. He also ran in a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

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