All Wins, Hardly Perfect

BALTIMORE, Dec. 3 -- The New England Patriots again were rather beatable, yet remained unbeaten.

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The Patriots' pursuit of an undefeated season came down to one final drive on a blustery night at M&T Bank Stadium. When all the twists finally were completed, including three apparently failed fourth-down plays that turned in their favor, the Patriots somehow emerged with a 27-24 triumph over the Baltimore Ravens that improved their record to 12-0.

In a season full of many lopsided victories, this was the third time in four games that the Patriots had to show their championship mettle by overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit. They'd done so previously against the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. But the fashion in which the Patriots won those games didn't border on the miraculous. This time, it did.

"That's three times we had tough games and pulled them out," Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. "That says a lot about this team. People talk about all the blowouts, but that's not going to happen all the time. I'm not saying everything was perfect. We have to move on and learn from it. At the same time, we're 12-0."

The Patriots had trouble passing the ball for much of a night on which the wind gusted to more than 30 mph. Quarterback Tom Brady was sacked three times. Wideout Randy Moss was limited to 34 receiving yards. The New England defense couldn't stop Ravens tailback Willis McGahee. But when the Patriots got the ball at their 27-yard line with 3 1/2 minutes to play, needing a touchdown to win, Brady delivered.

It took some doing. He was stopped short of a first down on a fourth-down sneak at the Ravens 30 with less than two minutes left, only to have the play negated by a last-moment timeout called from the sideline by the Baltimore coaches. Patriots fullback Heath Evans was tackled for a loss on the next play, only to have that nullified by a false start. Brady finally got the first down with a scramble, and a fourth-and-five incompletion from the Baltimore 13 in the final minute was negated by a defensive holding penalty on the Ravens. Brady finally connected with wide receiver Jabar Gaffney for the winning touchdown with 44 seconds to go.

"That's the way football is," said Brady, who became the fourth quarterback in NFL history to reach 40 touchdown passes in a season. "I've been in a lot of games on the other side of it. There were a lot of questionable calls out there, and you just keep playing and make plays when you need them. We made a lot of plays under pressure."

The Ravens fumed about the calls made by the officials in the game's final minutes. The Patriots were equally upset about some calls made against them earlier in the game.

"Most of the other three quarters didn't go our way," Brady said. "They probably evened out."

The Patriots have spent much of the season looking like one of the most dominant teams in NFL history, rolling up record-threatening offensive numbers and stirring debates about whether they were unnecessarily embarrassing overmatched opponents. Now they're scrambling for victories. But they're still on course to possibly join the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated team in league history.

They face the Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend to begin a string of three straight home games, a stretch that also includes meetings with the New York Jets and winless Dolphins. They close the regular season on the road against the New York Giants. Late Monday night, Coach Bill Belichick couldn't praise his players' precision, but he could compliment their grit.

"It wasn't perfect," Belichick said. "There's a lot we have to improve on. But I was proud of the way they played with the game on the line when we needed to make some plays."

If the Patriots do go 19-0, they'll certainly remember the strange events that happened at the end of this game.

"We've been in those situations before," veteran safety Rodney Harrison said. "I was a little nervous. But we had confidence our guys would go down there and score somehow."