Young Patriots Defense Gives New Twist to Classic Rivalry

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady strolled through the locker room Sunday night, one of his sons nestled in the crook of his left arm. A few minutes later, a relaxed Bill Belichick was back on the Gillette Stadium field with a lacrosse stick. There had not been too many occasions for family celebrations and playing around after recent vintages of the Patriots’ series with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots had lost four of the previous five games to the Colts. And in the waning moments of the latest installment, with Brady pacing on the sideline apparently unwilling to look, it seemed that Peyton Manning was about to engineer another victory in the N.F.L.’s most scintillating rivalry.
But one of the revelations of this season has been the young and improving Patriots defense. As the offense has been retooled on the fly — goodbye, Randy Moss; hello, Danny Woodhead — the defense has morphed, sometimes erratically, into a powerful presence that locked up a 31-28 victory.
On Sunday, it acted like the young group it is, intercepting Manning twice early in the game, only to surrender most of the 17-point lead the Patriots had built in the fourth quarter. With the Colts trailing by 3 with 37 seconds remaining and the ball at the Patriots’ 24-yard line — and Manning clearly playing for a winning touchdown — safety James Sanders peeled off his assignment as Gary Guyton jammed Colts tight end Jacob Tamme at the line of scrimmage.
Sanders dropped back and read Manning’s eyes as he spotted Pierre Garcon deep on the right side running for the end zone. Sanders timed his leap perfectly and snagged the underthrown ball for Manning’s third interception, ending the drive and the Colts’ hopes for a comeback.
Perhaps it is indicative of the Patriots’ flaws still remaining that they struggled to close out the injury-diminished Colts despite Brady’s pinpoint accuracy through the first three quarters, when he completed 17 of 19 passes. But in winning again one week after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, the Patriots (8-2) are tied for first place with the Jets in the A.F.C. East and perhaps the best team in the N.F.L.
“It seems like we always get a lead and they come back in the end,” said Sanders, who had an interception return for a touchdown in the game against Pittsburgh. “We’re getting better. We’ve got to continue to grow. We still haven’t played a 60-minute game. That 10 percent we lose our focus we let teams back in the game. We’re playing a lot of good teams. We’ve got to raise our level of awareness.”
In recent years, this game has inevitably seemed to determine home-field advantage in the playoffs. Perhaps it will again, but this time it had the feel of a litmus test, especially for the Colts, whose injuries have sent their offense off kilter and on Sunday contributed to an unusually slow start.
That was apparent immediately when Manning threw a pass too high for receiver Blair White — who was returning from injury — for an interception on the Colts’ opening drive. Manning (38 of 52 for 396 yards, 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions) entered the game with just four interceptions in the first nine games of the season. But four plays later, Brady, who enjoyed excellent protection and was sacked just once, found Wes Welker down the seam for a 22-yard touchdown.
The lead went to 14-0 on the Patriots’ next drive when he threaded an 8-yard touchdown pass to the rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez.
“Just coming into the game as a rookie, you’re so excited because I’m usually the person getting ready to eat wings and pizza and watching the game,” Hernandez said. “Just being in a game like this is a dream come true and it’s an honor. The way it turned out, a close game like this, it’s just breathtaking.”
New England could do with less drama. But with the Patriots playing zone defense in the fourth quarter, and Manning taking the short middle passes that were wide open, the Colts went on two quick touchdown drives, both ending with passes to White.
In recent years, the Colts (6-4) would have completed the comeback. They are still tied for first in the A.F.C. South, but with so few weapons for Manning, they are not the same Colts team, without the same outcomes.
“I feel sick about it, about not extending the game, not executing to give Vinatieri a chance for a field goal,” Manning said of kicker Adam Vinatieri. “We were going for the win. It was a poor throw. It’s really sickening.”