Patriots win clash of unbeatens

~ Victory may provide Patriots with home-field advantage in playoffs.

INDIANAPOLIS -- No running up the score this week. Against the Colts, Tom Brady was content to close out another victory for the New England Patriots by kneeling down three times.

In what was hyped as the biggest NFL regular season game ever, the Patriots stayed on course for an unbeaten season as Brady threw two of his three touchdown passes in a four-minute span of the fourth quarter Sunday to overcome a 10-point deficit and beat Super Bowl champion Indianapolis, 24-20.

The win keeps the Patriots (9-0) on course for the NFL's first unbeaten season since Miami did it 1972 and gives them the first tiebreaker over Indianapolis (7-1) in the AFC playoffs.

"This is the first time we were in a ballgame late," said Brady, whose team had never before trailed in the fourth quarter and had beaten its previous eight opponents by an average of 25 points a game. "There wasn't any loss of confidence or determination."

ABOVE: New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss caught a pass in front of Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea during the fourth quarter Sunday in Indianapolis. TOP: Patriots quarterback Tom Brady directed the offense during the second quarter. (TOM STRATTMAN ~ Associated Press)

Added New England linebacker Junior Seau: "We were going against a hostile crowd, an undefeated team, we took our hats off to them. But we still played well enough to win."

New England had been scoring more than 41 points a game.

In this contest, they had to work their hardest just to win against perhaps the only team in the NFL close to them.

"We had an opportunity to do a lot of things," said running back Joseph Addai, the Colts' best offensive player on this day with 112 yards rushing and a 73-yard score on a short pass from Peyton Manning. "We left some points squandered and got field goals when we should have gotten touchdowns, but that's the nature of the game. Those guys are good. We'll see them again."

New England trailed 20-10 after Manning, who threw for 225 yards and a touchdown, scored on a 1-yard sneak with 9:42 left in the game.

New England Patriots wide receiver Donte' Stallworth, right makes a reception against Indianapolis Colts safety Antoine Bethea (41) in the fourth quarter of NFL football action in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 4, 2007. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

But Brady threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker and a 13-yard scoring pass to Kevin Faulk with 3:15 left.

The defense finished it out as the Patriots recovered a Manning fumble on the Colts' next series.