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It wasn’t as if Peyton Manning didn’t look to Reggie Wayne often in the win over New England. He wound up aiming for him a dozen times.

But it was no surprise that Manning and Wayne worked their signals and found a play that provided the winning points at the end.

Pierre Garcon had muffed several of his 11 chances, rookie Austin Collie had a costly drop and Dallas Clark was relatively quiet with five catches, only two after the half.

Plus, why wouldn’t you throw to Wayne considering how good he is in the red zone?

A breakdown from our friends at ESPN Stats & Information.

INDIANAPOLIS -- It’s the morning after a big win by Peyton Manning and the Colts, so you know what’s coming.

That’s right: Exquisite information from ESPN Stats & Information from out of Indianapolis’ improbable 35-34 win over the Patriots that pushed the Colts’ record to 9-0:

The Patriots allowed Manning to throw short passes against them, and he thrived.

The Patriots didn't send extra pressure against Manning very often, but Manning was able to handle it when he saw it. In fact, the Manning was so good against added pass-rushers in the first half (5-of-6, 91 yards and a touchdown) that New England sent five guys at him only once after intermission.


The Colts came into the week leading the league in production out of the double formation -- which has two skill players on each side of the formation. Out of such sets, they averaged 6.6 yards per play.

But the formation wasn't working until the fourth quarter on Sunday.

Before we left Lucas Oil Stadium in the wee hours of Monday morning, Tim Graham and I sorted through the crazy ending to a classic that's sure to be debated for a good while.

INDIANAPOLIS -- T.J. Rushing was all set. The Colts don’t boast much of a return team and he had fair caught three of the balls off Chris Hanson’s foot, allowing the other to be downed. Now, he’d get one more chance.

With a fourth-and-2 from the Patriots' 28-yard line, he was ready to line up and hoping he wouldn’t have to wave before catching punt No. 5.

“I think I was going to line up at the 25-yard line, about 45 yards away from him, because he was hitting them pretty good today, so I was hoping he out-kicked his coverage,” Rushing said. “Third-down stop, I got excited because I thought I was going to get a chance to make a play.

“I ran out on the field, I saw [Tom] Brady still out on the field, and I was like, ‘What is happening?’ They’re on their own end of the field, there is no way they are going to go for it.”

What was happening was Patriots coach Bill Belichick was deciding on an all-or-nothing gamble. He sent his offense back on the field to get the first down, to end the game with a gain of six feet with 2:08 left on the clock.

“That was like a video-game play,” Rushing said. “You’re playing your buddy and you’re like, ‘I’m just going to go for it.’ I guess they figured no matter what, if the offense got the ball back, we were going to win. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

Strong safety Melvin Bullitt lined up on running back Kevin Faulk with a mentality much like Rushing’s. He was going to make the game-swinging play. Defensive backs coach Alan Williams had told his guys all week in a fourth-down situation like this one, the Patriots would go to Wes Welker or Faulk.

Brady took a shotgun snap and threw to Faulk on the right. Bullitt was right there, wrapping up Faulk and taking him down for a 1-yard gain. Colts’ ball, and, four plays later, Colts’ game, 35-34, after a Peyton Manning-to-Reggie Wayne touchdown.

In showing confidence in his offense, Belichick set off an inadvertent side effect.

The Colts' defense was offended by the boldness.

“I was thinking, ‘Man, they’re going to try us like that? They’re going to disrespect us like that?' ” linebacker Philip Wheeler said. “We’ve got to stop them. We’ve got to man up. And we did that. Maybe it wasn’t disrespectful, maybe it was the smartest thing they could think of to do. I think we handled our business when they did it.”

“We just felt as though, that was a slap in the face,” free safety Antoine Bethea said. “Fourth down, in their territory? That was just a smack in the face. But the defense, we stood up and made a big play.”

Former Colts coach Tony Dungy, on NBC’s postgame show, questioned the logic.

“You have to punt the ball in that situation,” Dungy said. “As much as you might respect Peyton Manning, you have to play the percentages and punt the ball.”

The Colts (9-0) needed Belichick’s bailout plan because they’d played a game lacking their typical crispness and efficiency.

The fierce pass rush was stonewalled, the secondary toasted for 179 yards and a pair of touchdowns by Randy Moss. The offense stumbled, with rhythm issues and drops.

Pierre Garcon was targeted 11 times, and while all those throws from Manning were hardly perfect, he pulled in only three of them. He didn’t think his 29-yard touchdown catch offset the errors. Rookie Austin Collie booted at least one pass too. Manning even threw a wobbly duck for one of his two picks.

“There were a lot of things,” Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. “One of the things we certainly can’t do is give up big plays and early on there Moss was kind of having his way with us I think. … You get him where he’s even with you and Brady’s not going to miss him. He puts that ball right on the money.

“Then we had penalties that set us back a little bit and dropped passes. So there are a lot of things for us to work on. It’s great to get a victory when maybe you didn’t play as well as you’re capable of.”

The Colts’ best work may have come on the play that produced the decisive points.

Earlier, Manning had looked unsuccessfully for Wayne on a fade in the left side of the end zone. From the 1-yard line with 16 seconds left, Manning was looking to try it again.

“I gave him my C.C. Sabathia shake off,” Wayne said. “I felt like I wanted to show fade and just come with the slant and it worked. [It was] at the line of scrimmage. You’ve got to be quick with it. You’ve got to shake him off and go on to the next call. I shook him off and I gave him the signal. I think after nine years he can trust me.”

The tired Colts shrugged after it was all over as they considered just how it unfolded.

“That’s the craziest win I’ve ever been involved in,” Bullitt said. “They’re bold. We never expected anything less.”

INDIANAPOLIS -- A ridiculously nervy fourth-down attempt by the New England Patriots in the fourth quarter in their own end of the field came up short, and the Colts didn’t let Bill Belichick off the hook.

Poised until then for their first loss of the season, the Colts took full advantage: A four-play march to a touchdown that turned a game, and doubtlessly the NFL world, on its head.

Peyton Manning’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne gave the Colts their ninth win, 35-34, over AFC archrival New England, and surely sparked the most heated round of questioning Belichick will field since his days as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

It washed away an off night for Indy that included a limited pass rush, a pretty bad case of the dropsies, some uncommonly bad throws by Manning and some serious coverage issues that allowed Randy Moss to run wild.

The city will have a tough time falling asleep tonight and an awfully hard time responding to its alarm clock in the morning.

Once the euphoria dies down, the Colts will dive into a big pile of work.

Jim Caldwell has been selling his team on the idea that, despite the record, it was far from perfect, and players -- led by perfectionist quarterback Manning -- were clearly buying it.

Even with the miracle finish made possible by Belichick’s call, it’s an easy-to-renew theme from here, with a tough trip to Baltimore next week before a divisional rematch on the road in Houston.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Colts got a big sack from Robert Mathis, but they’ve generally been unable to harass Tom Brady and that’s been a big piece of their problem Sunday night.

Mathis just got Brady and forced a fumble, but Dan Koppen recovered and New England retained possession.

Dwight Freeney came into the game as an under-appreciated defensive player of the year candidate, I thought, with at least a sack in every game and 9.5 total.

Pregame thinking was that Freeney would be able to get underneath the pads of rookie left tackle Sebastian Vollmer, who’s 6-8. But while Vollmer’s had some help, more from backs than tight ends, Freeney’s not found any avenues for using the size to Vollmer’s disadvantage.

I just locked in on the matchup for a couple snaps. Vollmer appears to be having no difficulties.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A lot of bad things have converged for the Colts, who trail the Patriots 24-14. Certainly New England is making much of it happen.

Peyton Manning has been hit a bunch, which has affected his accuracy, as you’d expect.

Linebacker Derrick Burgess, coming from Manning’s left, has applied heat a couple of times. Jerod Mayo blitzed untouched to nail Manning for an 11-yard loss on a play that left left tackle Charlie Johnson with his palms raised in a “what happened” expression.

The drops are harder to explain. Austin Collie had a bad one, and while Pierre Garcon has been well defended, he’s going to wish he had a couple back.

But the offense is under pressure to close the gap because of defensive failures, and it’s not just Randy Moss who has been running free. Ben Watson and others have had turns.

Now we see what sort of halftime adjustments Jim Caldwell and his staff can make and how well prepared they are for what Bill Belichick and his assistants have in store going forward.

INDIANAPOLIS -- It's time for the Colts to make some adjustments with the Randy Moss coverage.

The Patriots have touchdown drives of six and two plays after the Colts had given up just one that fast all season, and both have been spurred by Moss. He found an open pasture in the secondary for a 55-yard gain on the first drive.

And now, despite tight coverage from safety Antoine Bethea, Moss just caught a 53-yard scoring pass from Tom Brady to put the Patriots ahead 17-7.

Bethea had his right arm between Moss’ arms as the receiver made the catch with no concern for the defensive arm placement.

Rookie corners were a big story to many coming in. They may have been a factor on the first big gainer, but the safeties, Bethea and Melvin Bullitt, have been more of the issue.

Meanwhile as the Colts look to drive, Donald Brown is working as the feature back. Joseph Addai’s been out since suffering a finger injury, and my guess is we aren’t going to see him again.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Earlier this week, we covered how the AFC South stood on touchdown drives of six plays or less allowed. The Colts were tied for best in the league, having yielded just one, to San Francisco.

Make it two.

That Patriots' score that made it a 7-7 game at Lucas Oil Stadium came on a six-play, 73-yard drive highlighted by a 55-yard catch by Randy Moss on which the Colts’ safeties didn’t close his space very well.

I can’t make any promises about the frequency of my comments, but I do intend to infiltrate ESPNBoston.com’s Cover it Live during the Patriots-Colts game Sunday night.

Actually I was invited.

Presumably because the higher ups think AFC East knucklehead Tim Graham and ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss and Chris Forsberg will be able to quash the guy offering Indianapolis’ perspective.

Perhaps they also know of my deep affection for the Red Sox. (Kidding.)

Since I’ve heard no rumblings of an ESPN Indianapolis startup, the AFC South will have to jump to AFC East turf.

Maybe I will go recruit Bob Kravitz of The Fan ESPN Radio 1070 here (as well as the Indianapolis Star) and get him a password.

Please do stop by, just head here. We're underway, here.

INDIANAPOLIS -- No surprises at all on the Colts inactive list as we draw near kickoff of Pats-Colts and hope for a game more compelling than the late afternoon slate Sunday.

Kyle DeVan starts for the second consecutive game at right guard ahead of Mike Pollak.

• Kicker Adam Vinatieri
• Receiver Anthony Gonzalez
• Quarterback Jim Sorgi
• Cornerback Kelvin Hayden
• Safety Aaron Francisco
• Tackle Tony Ugoh
• Guard Mike Pollak
• Tight end Tom Santi