FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The good news for the New England Patriots (7-2) coming out of their bye week is that the team has ridden its recent high-scoring five-game winning streak to a spot as one of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL.

Through 10 weeks of action New England has the No. 3 scoring attack in the league. That’s the same spot where the Patriots finished last season and a far cry from a unit that opened the 2014 campaign scoring 20 points or fewer in three of the first four games. Since then the Tom Brady-led, Rob Gronkowski-driven passing attack has paced the Patriots to 27 or more points in five straight, including three games with 43 or more points.

Scoring is no longer a problem. And that’s a good thing because Sunday night’s trip to take on the Indianapolis Colts (6-3) pits Patriots as a road underdog to the highest scoring team in the league. Two weeks after that, New England will head to Green Bay to take on a Packers team that ranks fifth in the league in scoring.

The Patriots may have a new-look defense that will expect cornerbacks Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner and others to slow down opposing scoring attacks, but in the end Brady and his offensive mates know that they are still under some pressure to continue to put points on the board at a high right.

Luck may have entered the league with a ton of hype as the No. 1 pick and the guy replacing legend Peyton Manning in Indy, but the young passer has also worked hard to improve his game in his two-plus seasons.

“We’re going to have to score a lot. When you play another great offense, you’re going to have to put up a lot of points, similar to our last game,” Brady said, referencing the pre-bye blowout of the high-scoring Broncos. “We realize we have a big job, too. You’re right, my focus is on other side of the ball, but you also know you’re not going to be able to score 13 points and win the game.”

While he has plenty of weapons to work with and guys he leans on to make plays, a big reason for the pressure that Brady feels to score comes thanks to Colts developing star quarterback Andrew Luck. Luck leads the NFL in attempts, yards and is second in touchdowns to pace the Colts’ No. 1 scoring offense.

“I think Luck’s really done a great job developing as a player in his third year,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “He’s got an excellent arm, can make all the throws, got a lot of poise in the pocket, a big, strong guy that’s hard to tackle, can extend plays with his legs and his playing strength, he’s got good vision, does a good job at the line of scrimmage changing plays, using the snap count, things like that. He’s really a complete quarterback and does a great job.”

Even Brady, who has accomplished about as much as any quarterback in history both in terms of numbers and winning, sees things with Luck that open his eyes.

“He’s a great player. He’s in his third year, and he’s had a lot of success. Their offense is doing a great job this year. They score a lot of points, especially at home, and he’s kind of the ring leader,” Brady said. “He does a lot of things I wish I could do. He’s big, fast, shrugs off blockers. He makes a lot of extended plays. He’s a great passer.”

Luck and his offense are not only a great challenge for the Patriots defense led by the likes of Revis and Browner, but also a challenge for Brady and his similarly-potent scoring attack.

It should be a shootout Sunday night in Indy as two of the best passing games in the league do battle. It’s not Brady vs. Manning, but Brady vs. Luck III certainly has its own intrigue and hype as New England and Indy do battle in a key AFC altercation with potential postseason ramifications.

And at the time of year when home games can be a bit dicey with the November weather, Brady is looking forward to the challenge of scoring points in a controlled environment.

“We just have to go out there and play well,” Brady concluded of ‘Sunday Night Football.’ “That’s ultimately what it’s going to come down. I hope we play well. More so than the weather, I hope we just go out there and kick some butt.”

SERIES HISTORY: 74th regular-season meeting. Patriots lead the all-time series 45-28. As former AFC rivals, the Patriots and Colts met twice a year until realignment in 2002. Since then, the rivalry has become even more heated with regular meetings that revolved around playoff seeding and postseason advancement as two of the best teams in football since 2001. The franchises have met four times since 2003 in the postseason and three times the winner of that playoff battle went on to win the Super Bowl.

Peyton Manning’s team fell in Foxborough following the 2003 and 2004 seasons as Tom Brady’s team went on to back-to-back titles. Manning took the battle in the 2006 AFC title game in Indy on the way to his first ring. Andrew Luck got into the postseason fun last winter, though he came up well short in a 43-22 loss at Gillette Stadium. Led mostly by the Brady vs. Manning rivalry, the Patriots and Colts became one of the best battles in football over the last decade-plus. Now, Luck is getting into the mix with his third trying taking on Brady.

MEDICAL WATCH:

–WR Brandon LaFell missed practice on Tuesday, essentially an extra day of work for the Patriots coming off the bye weekend, reportedly due to strep throat. He returned to the field on Wednesday as a full participant.

–DE Chandler Jones continues to miss practice due to the hip injury suffered in Week 7 against the Jets. Jones has now missed two games and three weeks of practice to the injury.

–DL Dominque Easley didn’t not practice on Tuesday or Wednesday due to a knee injury. The first-round rookie suffered a torn ACL last September in his final season at Florida and has been battling knee issues since arriving in New England during the spring.

–DB Nate Ebner was limited practice once again due to a finger injury.

–OL Cameron Fleming remains limited in practice due to a finger injury.

–WR Matthew Slater continues to be limited in practice because of a shoulder injury.

–RG Ryan Wendell was limited in practice on Wednesday due to a knee injury.

–QB Tom Brady continues to be listed with an ankle injury, though he took part fully in practice on Wednesday.

GAME PLAN: Offensively the plan for the Patriots is pretty simple – keeping doing what they’ve been doing. That includes spreading out a very porous Colts pass defense, protecting Tom Brady and letting him find his productive weapons led by a surging Rob Gronkowski. Once again the running game will be a bit of an afterthought and early production on the ground will likely come from Shane Vereen out of passing sets. Indy has 24 sacks as a team, so the improving Patriots line needs to continue to show growth, although there isn’t one dynamic guy to worry about on the Colts front. Indy likes to blitz quite a bit, but doing so against Tom Brady and with Gronkowski running free in the middle might be a major mistake.

Defensively it will be all hands on deck against Andrew Luck and the most productive passing game in the NFL through 10 weeks. New England will likely mix up its coverages and spend a lot of time in flooded zones – as has been the case in recent blowouts of the Bears and Broncos – in dealing with Luck’s deep cast of weapons. Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner will be tested on the outside by T.Y. Hilton and Reggie Wayne, but things in the middle with the tight ends and running backs will be equally as trying for the New England defense. The Patriots pass rush is undermanned a bit right now, but the front will look to have controlled rush against the mobile Luck. And the Patriots run defense may face a bit tougher test from a decent Colts rushing attack led by Trent Richardson and Ahmad Bradshaw that averages 4.0 yards a carry on the season. IN the end, though, the defensive battle will come down to the coverage the Patriots throw at Luck and whether the team can take advantage of turnovers, as it has all year, against a quarterback who does enter with nine interceptions and a pair of lost fumbles.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

–Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski vs. Colts S Sergio Brown. Brown is a former Patriot and primarily a special teamer who has been forced into defensive action with Laron Landry’s suspension. Brown is expected to start again this week, meaning he and Mike Adams will have their hands full with a red-hot Gronkowski. The Pro Bowl tight end hit the bye with consecutive nine-catch, 100-yard efforts totaling four touchdowns. He’s the focal point of the Patriots passing attack that will target Brown, Adams and the middle of the Colts’ 27th-ranked pass defense.

–Patriots QB Tom Brady vs. Colts QB Andrew Luck. This battle of No. 12s pits two of the best passers in the game right now, the 15-year veteran Brady and the third-year rising star Luck. They lead two of the three highest scoring attacks in football and each passer knows he needs to put up points to win this key AFC battle. Brady already has two victories over Luck, both in Foxborough. This is the former No. 1 chances first shot at Brady in his home, leading the favored Colts into this prime time battle.

–Patriots SS Patrick Chung vs. Colts TEs Dwayne Allen/Coby Fleener. Indianapolis has one of the most diverse attacks in the game. While not all Luck’s weapons are stars or Pro Bowl talents, there are more than a half-dozen targets Luck turns to with frequency. That includes this tight end duo that has combined for 48 catches and 11 touchdowns in nine games. Chung has been more impressive in coverage than at any point previously in his career and with the Colts spreading the Patriots secondary out with so many options, the strong safety will continue to need to be a productive force rather than a liability in the middle of the field.