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, Brady threw two of his three touchdown passes in a four-minute span of the fourth quarter yesterday to overcome a 10-point deficit and beat Super Bowl champion Indianapolis, 24-20.

The win made the Patriots (9-0) a stronger threat for the NFL's first unbeaten season since Miami did it in 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."

New England trailed 20-10 after Peyton Manning scored on a 1-yard sneak with 9:42 left.

However, Brady's 55-yard completion to Randy Moss set up a 3-yard TD pass to Wes Welker. Rosevelt Colvin knocked the ball loose from Manning to force a punt on the next series. Then Brady found Kevin Faulk over the middle for 13 yards for the winning score with 3:15 left.

Jarvis Green knocked the ball loose from Manning and Colvin recovered to clinch it for New England.

"We had an opportunity to do a lot of things," said Colts running back Joseph Addai, who had 112 yards rushing and a 73-yard score on a short pass from 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."