INDIANAPOLIS — The New England Patriots played much of the first half of Sunday night’s game with the Indianapolis Colts with a nickel look on defense — utilizing five defensive backs.

But they did so without veteran Shawn Springs.

The veteran cornerback/safety who signed a three-year free agent deal last offseason was a healthy scratch, finding out that he wouldn’t be playing about 90 minutes before game time.

Also finding out at that time that he wouldn’t be in uniform was defensive line stalwart Ty Warren, though it is unclear whether Warren was benched or if he did not play because of the ankle injury that had limited him in practice for the last two weeks.

Springs and Warren were on the field in cleats at Lucas Oil Stadium for warmups when the Patriots announced the team’s list of inactives.

That both did not play was a surprise because getting pressure on Colts quarterback Peyton Manning would seem to be a big part of New England’s game plan.

Springs has seen his snaps dwindle in recent weeks. After starting in Weeks Two through Five and playing on at least 70 percent of the defensive snaps in each, he played just 11 snaps against Tennessee and three in London against the Buccaneers.

However, the 34-year-old saw more playing time last week against Miami, when he played for 33 snaps. That was less than 50 percent of the defensive snaps, but certainly better than the three he was on the field for against Tampa Bay.

There was a theory that Springs, who has played with torn ligaments in two of the fingers on his right hand and also has been hampered by a knee injury since training camp, was being limited so he would be at full strength to play against high-powered teams such as Indianapolis and New Orleans. But clearly that is not the case.

Warren rolled his right ankle against Tampa Bay but played against the Dolphins. He did not practice on Wednesday or Thursday last week and was listed as questionable to play against Indy.

Brady, Moss move up

Tom Brady and Randy Moss continued their air show in the first half against the Colts, and in the process each moved up in the record books.

With his second touchdown pass of the game, to rookie Julian Edelman, Brady reached 215 career TD tosses, passing San Francisco’s John Brodie (214) for 20th place all-time.

Moss had 144 yards on four first-half catches, the fifth 100-yard game of the season for him and the 64th in his illustrious career.

Moss is second only to Jerry Rice in 100-yard games. Rice had 76 100-yard games.

Also, Moss’ 144 yards gave him 14,057 for his career, moving him past former Packer/Raider/Bill/Ram/Eagle James Lofton (14,004 yards) for sixth place all-time.

Quick kicks

The Patriots’ inactives, in addition to those already listed, were running backs Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor, tackle Matt Light, defensive end Jarvis Green, linebacker Eric Alexander and guard Rich Ohrnberger.

The Colts’ inactives were tackle Tony Ugoh, guard Mike Pollack, kicker Adam Vinatieri, wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, cornerback Kelvin Hayden, defensive back Aaron Francisco and tight end Tom Santi.

Rookie Curtis Painter served as Peyton Manning’s backup at quarterback. Regular backup Jim Sorgi hurt his throwing shoulder in practice earlier in the week and was listed as the No. 3 quarterback.

smanza@projo.com