DENVER -- Nobody defies logic like the 2003 Patriots. Now the whole country -- or at least the ones that stayed awake -- will understand.
Tom Brady hit David Givens for an 18-yard touchdown with 30 seconds left (12:27 a.m. on your clocks) and the Patriots won, 30-26, in a Monday Night Football game for the ages last night.
New England is now 7-2 and on its way to an incredibly well-deserved week off. Denver is 5-4 and wondering what hit them.
Somehow this Patriots team survives. Survives 14 penalties for 86 yards and a pair of turnovers on its first five plays from scrimmage. Survives poor third-down execution and the absence of Richard Seymour and a night when the breaks and the balls and so much else don't seem to go their way.
What appeared to be the ultimate backbreaker was a 57-yard punt-return touchdown by Denver's Deltha O'Neal with 3:20 left in the third that made it 24-20. The killer on that play? The touchdown came on a rekick. A 47-yarder with no return had Denver at their own 23, but a holding penalty on Lonie Paxton forced the second punt and O'Neal did his thing.
Starting at the Denver 43, O'Neal weaved and sliced through the Pats' special teams, scoring the first punt-return TD against the Pats in a decade.
Until that point, the Pats were -- inexplicably -- ahead thanks to three big plays in the first half and one efficient third-quarter drive.
Even after the O'Neal touchdown, the Pats still chipped away despite the feeling that Denver had taken control and the Pats were going to pay for their mistakes.
First, they got a 28-yard field goal from Adam Vinatieri with 11:08 left. Then, they forced a Denver punt with 3:06 left. The Pats got pinned at their 1 and three plays netted them nothing. Rather than risk a blocked punt, they had Paxton snap it over Walter's head for a safety making it 26-24, Denver.
The resulting free-kick backed Denver up to their 16 and the Broncos couldn't manage a first down.
After Troy Brown returned Micah Knorr's punt to the Patriots' 42 with 2:15 left, Brady and the Pats went to work.
The key play on the drive was a third-and-10 pass to Kevin Faulk that got the Pats down to the Denver 18. Earlier in the drive, the Pats had gotten a 19-yarder from Brady to Faulk.
It smelled for all the world like the Pats were setting up for a field goal. That is, until Brady dropped and saw Givens running a deep out inside the 5. The receiver made a brilliant catch and a Denver stadium that had been rocking went dead.
Brady finished the night 20 of 35 for 350 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
New England didn't lead until a 6-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Daniel Graham with 5:57 left in the third as Graham made a remarkable leaping grab.
The Broncos led 17-13 at the half but had to be lamenting the fact that the Pats were right on the Broncos' bumper.
New England was afloat thanks to three first-half plays that netted 177 yards -- a 66-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Deion Branch, a 48-yard throw to Givens that set up a 40-yard Vinatieri field goal and a 63-yard kickoff return by Bethel Johnson that set up a 46-yarder by Vinatieri with one second left before intermission.
The last was deflating for Denver, given that they'd gone ahead, 17-10, on a Danny Kanell to Mike Anderson touchdown pass from a yard away that capped a 14-play, 72-yard drive that chewed up 7:33. It was just the fourth touchdown pass of the season against the Pats.
Coming into this critical game, the Broncos leaned heavily on Clinton Portis in the first half, handing it to him 16 times for 56 yards.
The need for Portis to carry the load was two-fold. One, Kanell was making just his second start for the Broncos and his showing in a 26-6 loss at Baltimore eight days earlier showed that he couldn't carry the load. Second, the Patriots were without Seymour who unexpectedly didn't make the trip with a leg injury.
Portis scored the first Denver touchdown. After Patriots' center Dan Koppen appeared to get the ball stuck on the ground on the Pats' second offensive play, Tom Brady got all gummed up and Denver safety Kenoy Kennedy recovered the fumble at the Patriots' 28. Portis scored on a 15-yard burst from there as linebacker Tedy Bruschi slid out of the hole Portis ran through and Roman Phifer got wiped out by a downfield block.
Three plays later, Kennedy came up with a pick of a deep Brady pass intended for Givens at the Denver 40. No blood there, as Denver kicker Jason Elam missed from 44 yards away.
The Pats evened the game on the next play, Brady hitting Branch deep down the middle of the field over Broncos' cornerback Larry Herndon with 6:04 left in the first.
Denver got a 43-yard field goal from Elam after forcing the Pats to punt from their end zone. The modest 34-yard punt by Ken Walter put Denver in business at the Pats 45.
On the drive that ended with Vinatieri's 40-yarder, the Pats showed the same kind of red-zone inefficiency that's been plaguing them for weeks as Matt Light false started at the Denver 17 and the Pats got nothing after that.
Kanell, working well (13 for 22 with a touchdown and no picks) despite his recent inactivity, engineered a nice drive for the Broncos after that and the Pats helped him out with consecutive penalties on third-and-long (encroachment by Anthony Pleasant on a third-and-13; defensive holding on Rodney Harrison on the ensuing third-and-8). Kanell also hit Chris Coles for 18 on a third-and-10, Ashley Lelie for 8 on a third-and-5 and Lelie again for 7 on another third-and-5.
