No give in Patriots

In nearly three decades as an NFL coach, Bill Belichick hadn't seen one. Until Sunday, that is.

"Nothing like this," Belichick said yesterday of the Patriots stonewalling the Colts three times from the 1 in the final moments of a 38-34 victory at the RCA Dome that put New England in position to clinch the AFC East title with a win over Miami at Gillette Stadium this weekend. "End-of-the-game goal-line stand? This would be the one. I can't really remember another one."

This from a man whose memory is legendary. During the recent bye week, his short-term memory was full of examples of opponents getting a yard against his defense when they needed a yard. With this, Belichick was not pleased.

In the first nine games, Patriots opponents had five chances from New England's 1. They scored touchdowns five times. The Patriots lined up to defend seven third-and-1 situations in their first nine games. Seven first downs. The other guys went for it once on fourth and 1 and -- yup -- they got it.

Belichick got it, as well. He got that his short-yardage defense needed a lot of work during the off week.

Leverage is everything in short yardage, and the Patriots weren't getting any the first half of the season. The linemen were playing too high and too tight on the offensive alignment. They weren't recognizing blocking schemes. In short yardage, New England usually lines up in an "even" front (center uncovered), and the center was getting clean blocks both to the front side and back side of the play.

So the Patriots worked on it until they got it right. And lately the goal line unit, strengthened by the return of Ted Washington, has done little wrong.

Opponents have failed to score on six consecutive attempts from the 1-yard line. That includes a key stand in the first quarter of last week's 23-20 win over the Texans in Houston (Kris Brown kicked a 19-yard field goal).

Opponents are 4 for their last 10 in third- or fourth-and-1 situations. Dallas converted its first three third-and-1s three weeks ago, but in the fourth quarter, Mike Vrabel stopped Troy Hambrick on third and 1 at midfield, setting up Tedy Bruschi's memorable stuff of Hambrick for a 2-yard loss on fourth down.

Six times Sunday the Colts needed a yard on third or fourth down. They got what they needed on their own once (Bobby Hamilton's 5-yard running-into-the-kicker penalty gave them a first down).

There's a lot that goes into good short-yardage defense. Then again, it's pretty simple.

"No. 1, you don't want them to run the ball in," Belichick said. "You've gotta stop them from running the ball in. Coverage is an issue, and coverage is harder because you're singled up out there. You never have really any combination or any help on the coverages. You just have to take your guys man to man, and if it's play-action, then you have some combination inside where the linebackers have to sort the play out. But No. 1, the reason why you're putting the goal line in is you don't want them to run it in, and that's your best run defense. You live with the deficiencies in the passing game and you know you've only got to defend a few yards, and you hope you can defend it."

The Patriots defense didn't appear to have much left after nearly 32 grueling minutes of running down the Colts. Especially not after Edgerrin James had just scurried 7 yards to the 2 with less than a minute remaining. That's when they showed an old coach a new trick.

On first and goal from the 2, James tried the right side and got only a yard thanks to Bruschi, Vrabel, and friends. James tried the middle on second down and came up short. Bruschi was there again, this time with Rodney Harrison. Washington also was in the middle clogging things up.

The tight pass coverage came into play on third down, when the Colts tried to go at Tyrone Poole with Aaron Moorehead. Incomplete. Fourth down.

The Colts, who were short on short-yardage personnel, lined up in a three-receiver formation, with one back (James) and one tight end. That's rare, as teams prefer tighter formations near the goal line with a couple of tight ends and a couple of running backs, luxuries the Colts didn't have because of injuries. New England countered with Jarvis Green, Washington, Richard Seymour, and Hamilton on the line and Vrabel, Roman Phifer, Bruschi, and Willie McGinest at the linebackers -- a 4-4 front. Eight in the box to the Colts' six. In other words, more than Indianapolis could handle. Poole, Eugene Wilson, and Ty Law were in man coverage.

The Patriots did everything right on the play, but a lot of things went right for them. McGinest fooled the Colts by rushing off the edge rather than jamming the slot receiver. He came unblocked from the open (no tight end) side. The Colts ran to the open side.

With no lead back, James instinctively tried to cut back to the back side. Problem was, the Colts' linemen did what linemen are taught to do in such a situation: They tried to cut the defensive linemen so as not to allow penetration, hoping the play wasn't forced back side. It was, and there was little the Colts linemen could do to help once it did.

That's how Washington got such good penetration, and James ended up sandwiched between Washington and McGinest. The up-front collisions were so violent that the 365-pound Washington blacked out.

The Colts, meanwhile, were out of chances.

"Having Ted, Seymour, and Bobby inside, it makes it easy for us edge guys because teams can't run up the middle -- it's too clogged up in there," McGinest said. "It's easier for the edge guys to come off the edge. It's not like we're going out there doing a whole bunch of mixed personnel and different schemes on the goal line. You can only do a few things on the goal line, and that was just our regular goal-line defense."

Running James straight ahead without a lead blocker seemed to be a curious call, though Belichick said it's worked for the Colts this season.

"When you're in the formation we were in, I don't think there are really a lot of places to go," Belichick said. "The ball inside the 1, you don't want to be running sideways. There's a good chance you could lose yardage because you have so many people close to the line of scrimmage. In an open formation like that, that's what they've done and they've been successful with it. They've done it in several games this year and they've hit it.

"They've got a big offensive line and a real good running back. Giving him the ball with less than a yard to go, he's scored plenty of times. It's not like this guy has never been in the end zone."

And he'll probably get there plenty more times. He just wasn't going to on this day.