INDIANAPOLIS – To think that this classic battle of 9-2 teams came down to Peyton Manning slapping himself on the rump.

That’s all defensive end Willie McGinest needed to sniff out the play, put the clamps on Edgerrin James and kill what would have been another wild Colts comeback on the last play of the game. McGinest’s instinctive stop of James on fourth-and-goal from the 1 capped off a furious goal-line stand and allowed the Pats to escape the roaring RCA Dome with a 38-34 victory Sunday, their eighth straight.

“If you look around the league, teams are winning like that,” McGinest said. “It’s the team with the most resolve. We’ve got a lot of fighters, from the staff to the players.”

Both teams fought Sunday in a game that the Patriots seemed to have well in hand.

With Tom Brady hitting his 16-of-18 passes against Indy’s soft-coverage schemes, they jumped out to a 17-3 lead that grew to 24-10 as rookie sensation Bethel Johnson returned a kickoff 92 yards on the last play of the half. The lead got as high as 31-10 on the Patriots’ first drive of the second half and it looked like a blowout when Tyrone Poole intercepted Manning on the ensuing possession.

And then the momentum

did an about-face, something the Patriots insisted they expected. Brady, whose accuracy had been pinpoint, threw behind a wide-open Johnson at the Colts 20. Had he connected, the game likely would have been decided. But when he was intercepted by Donald Strickland, the game was only beginning. Suddenly the Colts looked unstoppable and Manning began to show his MVP form with three touchdown passes to forge a 31-31 tie with 10:21 left in the game. The Pats were able to regain the lead when a 67-yard kick return by Johnson – again – set up Brady’s second touchdown pass.

Still, it wasn’t over. A Kevin Faulk fumble gave the ball to the Colts at the 11, where the Pats defense got after Manning and forced coach Tony Dungy to settle for a field goal. Still, it wasn’t over as an 18-yard punt gave the Colts their final chance from the New England 48 with 2:57 left.

Enter McGinest, or actually, exit McGinest.

The 10-year veteran had to leave the field after jamming his knee as Manning got the Colts to the Patriots’ 9 with a nine-yard pass to Marvin Harrison with 1:09 to go. Many must have thought he was just trying to catch a rest for a Patriots defense left puffing by the Colts’ no-huddle attack.

“I would never miss two plays in a game like that with time ticking down,” he said. “I told the guys this is what it’s made of. This is what football’s all about. To be the best you’ve got to stop the best.”

After James ran seven yards for a first down at the 2, McGinest’s teammates stopped James for one yard on two hurry-up runs. Manning used his last timeout, then threw incomplete on a fade pattern for Aaron Moorehead.

McGinest knew what was coming next. He lined up over the slot receiver and gave the impression that he was either going to help on the jam or drop into coverage, challenging football’s most heady QB to a game of mental gymnastics.

“I think they had a pass called at first. I faced the slot receiver like I was dropping,” McGinest explained. “Manning turned around and tapped his backside and usually that’s the check for them to run. I saw that but I was never in coverage. I was only baiting him. I stayed there for a little while and I crept and I crept and when they snapped the ball I flew inside.”

James took the handoff. The Patriots’ big defensive tackles – “Ted Washington is two guys by himself,” McGinest said – plugged the middle and when James tried to bounce it outside, he ran right into the arms of McGinest. “I was coming like a bat out of hell,” McGinest said. “He was either going to run and get hit or it was going to be a great play-action play and he (Manning) was going to throw it.”

So ended a half that saw Manning throw for three of his four touchdowns and finish with 278 yards.

For the Colts, it was also a game of injuries. Tight end Dallas Clark and fullback James Mungro were on the sidelines and Dungy couldn’t put his goal-line offense on the field. So Indianapolis stayed with the no-huddle spread and tried to catch the Patriots unaware with two quick running plays starting on first down to no avail.

“That’s what it came down to,” Manning lamented. “We had no personnel options. It’s tough being that far away and we still had to stay with our three-wide offense.”

Neither Manning nor Dungy would explain why the Colts only tried one pass play from the 2. They were too busy dealing with the frustration. “To be honest, if we had won this game, you could have called it stealing one,” Manning said. “Whatever the drama, and all that, it was just a big fat ‘L.'”