FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Corey Dillon needed just one game to find out why the New England Patriots win so much. They stay calm when they’re close to losing.

He watched from the sideline in the final minute Thursday night when they beat Indianapolis 27-24 after the Colts couldn’t score a touchdown from the Patriots 17 and Mike Vanderjagt missed a 48-yard field goal.

It’s quite a change from Cincinnati, where the Bengals were 2-5 in his seven season openers before he was traded April 19.

“I’ve been in situations where we get down and everything breaks loose,” Dillon said Monday. “This is a totally different environment. Everybody plays extremely well under pressure.”

For players who have been with the Patriots longer, it’s just more of the same.

Starting in 2001, when they won the first of their two championships, the Patriots are 35-14 in the regular season. They’re unbeaten in six overtime games and 16-6 in games decided by seven points or less. Their ability to win tight games is even more impressive in the playoffs. They’re 6-0 in 2001 and 2003 (they missed the playoffs in 2002) with four of the wins by three points.

“They were good at close games before I got here,” said center Dan Koppen, a rookie last year. “It just continued on. This team can play well under pressure, play well in situational football and, when it comes to crunch time, just make plays.”

They did it several times Thursday even though they allowed 445 yards, more than they gave up in any of their 19 games last season. They let Edgerrin James run for 142 yards after allowing just one runner, Clinton Portis, to run for more than 100 last season.

On the Colts’ first series, Tedy Bruschi intercepted Peyton Manning’s pass at the New England 1. On their next to last series, Eugene Wilson forced James to fumble at the 1 and rookie Vince Wilfork recovered.

And on Indianapolis’ final possession, Willie McGinest sacked Manning for a 12-yard loss that made the kick by Vanderjagt, who had made 42 consecutive field goal attempts, much tougher.

“You look back and you see you’re running out of room and you see something’s got to be done,” Bruschi said. “First and foremost, you want to stop them with zero points, get a turnover and get out of there. After that, you want to force them to a field goal, but you really just don’t want to let them in the end zone.”

By early in the fourth quarter, the Colts had scored on four of their five trips inside the New England 20. They were 0-for-2 after that.

“In this league, a lot of times you play 58 or 59 minutes for the right to make plays that determine the outcome of the game,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

Just one game into his second season, Koppen already knows that.

“You get in the flow of the game and if you’re not making plays, it’s going to be tough to make those plays in the critical situation with two minutes left in the game,” he said.

The Patriots don’t play again until Sept. 19 at Arizona, then have a bye week before visiting Buffalo on Oct. 3.

“It is what it is,” Belichick said. “On those days when a game isn’t scheduled we try to improve our team.”

One thing they have down pat is staying calm under pressure in the final minutes.

“We just stay composed,” Wilson said. “Bill is a composed guy most of the time. We kind of take on that aspect.”

They’ve developed that through plenty of experience in important games that are decided down the stretch.

“We’ve been in these situations before,” defensive end Richard Seymour said. “We’re a positive thinking ballclub and we’re just trying to get everything to go right and we’re just assuming that it’s going to go right.”

Patriots add Jennings to practice squad again

The New England Patriots re-signed wide receiver Michael Jennings to the team’s practice squad on Friday, the second time the team re-signed him in a week.

Jennings he was released by the Patriots in the final roster cut Sunday and was signed to the eight-man practice squad on Monday before being released again on Tuesday.

To make room for Jennings on Friday, the Patriots released running back Malaefou Mackenzie from the practice squad.

Jennings was signed by the Patriots as a first-year free agent on March 24. He played in each of the team’s four preseason games, catching two passes for seven yards, including a five-yard touchdown against Philadelphia.