FOXBORO -- Just another game? No extra incentive for the Indianapolis Colts to beat their nemesis, the Patriots, last night?

Try again.

With four seconds remaining and the Patriots hurrying to the line to squeeze off one final play in a 40-21 blowout by Indy, Colts president Bill Polian said with annoyance, "They're trying to run another play. He's going to throw another pass."

And as backup quarterback Doug Flutie rolled out with pressure on his heels, Polian muttered, "Break his leg."

This was a game of dire import for the Colts and they secured it, improving to 8-0 with an unapologetic assault on the Patriots' secondary.

Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, winless in New England in seven tries, went 28-for-37 for 321 yards and three touchdowns while Indy went 12-for-17 on third down and rolled up 453 yards of offense.

"Obviously, tonight we just didn't match up very well with the Colts in any aspect of the game," Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. "Their football team just completely outplayed us tonight. That's about it."

The Patriots' mastery over the Colts has been well documented. They'd won 14 of 16 games over Indy dating back to 1995, including the last six in a row. In each of the past two seasons, the Colts had been flying high before getting slapped back to earth and out of the playoffs.

Indy's agitation with the Patriots and Belichick -- well veiled in public comments -- was evident in the words of the hot-tempered Polian during the game.

When the Colts scored a late touchdown to go up 40-21 and lined up for a two-point conversion, the Patriots were in the midst of changing personnel. In an effort to buy time, Belichick threw his challenge flag onto the field.

"There's one set of rules for him and one for everybody else," raged Polian.

"Just kick [the extra point]," someone in the press box suggested.

"Kick it [my behind]," answered Polian.

It will no doubt please Polian and the rest of the Indy entourage to know how miffed New England was with the loss.

"I don't have much to say," said quarterback Tom Brady. "We got our butts kicked. We made too many mistakes. There's a lot of football to be played, we're 4-4."

Brady left the postgame podium without taking questions.

This was just a regular-season win, so the monkey may not be off the Colts' back entirely. But his hairy little fingers slipped last night.

The beleaguered New England defense that just didn't have the horses to keep up with Indianapolis. The Colts scored on seven of their first eight possessions.

Midway through the third quarter, the Patriots pretty much acknowledged their inability to stop the Indy offense when they tried an onsides kick after a 31-yard touchdown catch by tight end Daniel Graham that made it 28-14. It didn't work. The Colts went on to kick a field goal there after taking over at the Pats' 27.

On the next Pats drive, they went for it on fourth down at the Indy 43. That didn't work, either, and the Colts added another Mike Vanderjagt field goal to make it 34-14.

A 19-yard touchdown pass from Brady to Troy Brown with 10:15 left gave the Pats some life, but it only lasted until Indy drove 74 yards in seven plays on its next drive for a touchdown that made it 40-21.

The Colts pushed a 21-7 halftime lead to 28-7 early in the second half when Dominic Rhodes capped an 11-play drive with a 4-yard run.

The Graham touchdown catch followed, but by then, the Pats knew they were in trouble with a Colts offense bent on deconstructing the Patriots defense that had broken its hearts so many times. So what if it wasn't the same personnel? The uniforms were the same. And so was the hated venue.

The Colts got into the break ahead, 21-7. Not surprisingly, their offense was steamrolling New England's duct-taped secondary, as Manning tuned them up for 181 yards while going 16 for 21 before halftime.

The highly sought (by opposing quarterbacks) Duane Starks was the favorite target as he tried checking Colts wideout Reggie Wayne with minimal success. Wayne finished the first half with six catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. Starks started the second half on the bench.

The Colts' final score of the half was a bit debilitating for New England.

After Indy safety Jason David recovered a Corey Dillon fumble at the Colts' 17 with 2:18 left in the half, Manning went to work.

Working from the shotgun, he hit Marvin Harrison for 17 yards, Wayne for 20, Brandon Stokely for 12 to get to the Pats 24 in three plays and 28 seconds. Three plays later, on a third-and-10 from the Patriots' 10 with 14 seconds left, Manning hit Wayne in the left end zone to make it 21-7.