The Patriots marked the season's halfway point by blowing past the Colts late in their showdown to remain perfect. Now it looks as if the Pats have a clear run at history

After the new guys -- Moss, Welker and Stallworth -- did their part in the comeback, Brady found Faulk (33) for the winning score. John Biever/SI

Kelvin Hayden awoke in the middle of the night to the images that haunt defensive backs everywhere. They had already been consuming his mornings and afternoons. Now they were interrupting his dreams. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Randy Moss, Donte' Stallworth and Wes Welker, running patterns at the foot of his bed.

It was only a game tape, left playing on the television in his bedroom on Tuesday night of last week. Hayden, a first-year starting cornerback for the Indianapolis Colts, quickly turned off the TV and went back to sleep. But he was jolted nonetheless. "Playing the Patriots -- it's a crazy week," he said. "You catch yourself doing a little more work, studying a little more film. I've had to tell myself a few times to relax."

For 50 minutes on Sunday the Colts were the No. 1 team in the NFL. But in the final 10, all those images that had disrupted Hayden's sleep sprang to life -- Moss, Stallworth and Welker, running with no one to catch them. The New England Patriots wiped away a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit, secured a 24-20 victory at the RCA Dome and likely locked up home field advantage through the AFC playoffs. Indianapolis is No. 1A again.

The prospect of an undefeated season, once so distant, suddenly seems very real. At 9-0 the Patriots still have conference dates remaining with the Baltimore Ravens (away) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (home); on Dec. 29 they travel to the Meadowlands to face the New York Giants. If they're still perfect, the Pats may have to decide whether to rest their starters for the playoffs or use them for the sake of history.

"I look down the road, and I just don't see anybody who will beat the Patriots," says Jim Mandich, who played tight end on the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to post a perfect season. "They have distanced themselves from the rest of the league in a way that I have not seen in 30 years of watching football."

That kind of sound bite must burn in Indianapolis. The Colts won the Super Bowl last season, won their first seven games this season, and all they have heard this year is Patriots, Patriots, Patriots. Now that the two teams have finally played, and the Colts have lost, they must grind their teeth until the inevitable rematch -- tentatively scheduled for the AFC Championship Game in Foxborough on Jan. 20.

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