Up-and-down Brady finishes on top

When it was all over, Brady had won another game. What's new?

"We're still looking for one of those four-quarter games," said Brady after yesterday's Jekyll-Hyde performance by the offense in a 38-34 win over the Colts at the RCA Dome.

Brady threw for 236 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 26 of 35 passes. He started the day completing his first 12 passes, a personal best that included a beautifully thrown post slant to Dedric Ward for 31 yards, giving the Patriots a 17-0 lead at 11:54 of the second quarter. At halftime, Brady's stats read: 16 for 18, 161 yards, and a quarterback rating of 122.5.

It continued early in the second half, when Brady directed an 11-play, 61-yard drive, in which he completed four of six passes. It ended with a Mike Cloud 1-yard run, making it 31-10. To that point, Brady had shredded the Colts' defense. Anything he tried worked. But suddenly, the Colts began making adjustments, and Brady started making mistakes.

"We gave them a chance to get back into the game," Brady said. "Their coverage was undercutting our routes. We should have kept going. Normally we're a slow-starting team and we finish fast. Today we started fast and slowed down and then we finished fast."

On a second and 13 from the Colts 35 midway through the third quarter, Brady dropped back, intending to hit Bethel Johnson on a quick turnaround. But the throw seemed to sneak up on Johnson -- in Brady's words, "Bethel was not expecting it." It was picked off by free safety Donald Strickland, who returned it 24 yards to the Colts 41, before Patriots tight end Christian Fauria was tagged with an unnecessary roughness penalty of 15 yards. The mistake eventually turned into a Colts touchdown, and the score became 31-17.

On the next series, Brady, on a third and 7 from the shotgun, threw toward Kevin Faulk, but it was intercepted by cornerback Nick Harper, who returned it 3 yards to the Patriots 26. Colts quarterback Peyton Manning connected with Marvin Harrison for the TD on the next play.

By the time the Colts tied it at 31, Brady regrouped and told his offense to look at the game as being 0-0, "and let's go out and do what we did at the start of the game." Johnson's 67-yard return to the Colts 31 certainly helped.

That time of the game is when Brady shines, and yesterday was no exception.

He nailed David Givens with a 15-yard pass. He hit him again for 3 yards. On third and 7 from the 13, Brady dropped back and found Deion Branch with separation in the right corner of the end zone for 6 more points. After Adam Vinatieri's kick, the Patriots were ahead by 7, 38-31.

"We've had eight wins in a row, and some of them haven't been pretty," Brady said. "I still feel we have our best football ahead of us. That first half was as good as we've been this year."