Through it all, Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning said it never felt over.

Not when the Colts were down 17 points in the first half. Not when they trailed by the same in the fourth quarter. Not even when they trailed the New England Patriots 34-21 with just over four minutes remaining.

“I don’t think they ever could say it was in the bag,” Manning said.

How right he was.

Manning, taking advantage of a failed late-game gamble by Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick, threw to a diving WR Reggie Wayne for a one-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds remaining, giving the Colts (9-0) a dramatic, come-from-behind 35-34 victory over New England (6-3) in front of a franchise-record home crowd of 67,476 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

 “This team here just never quits – we stayed into it,” said Wayne, who caught 10 passes for 126 yards and touchdowns as the Colts rallied from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit.

 “They certainly had us on the ropes there for a while, but our guys hung in there and didn’t give up – it was just a great effort and certainly a great ballgame,” Head Coach Jim Caldwell said.

The Colts, after trailing 24-7 in the first half and 31-14 early in the fourth quarter, scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns — two in the final 2:23 — to beat New England for a fifth time in six meetings.

“We kept scoring and making them have to make plays,” said Manning, who completed 28 of 44 passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns with two interceptions. “Certainly, a great team comeback win. Everyone had to do their part.”

The Colts beat the Patriots in the 2005, 2006 and 2008 regular seasons and the AFC Championship Game following the 2006 season, the latter of which many Colts players said was similar to last night’s game. The Colts rallied from a 21-3 deficit to beat New England in that game.

Sunday’s victory was the third time in franchise history the Colts had rallied from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit. They rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat Tampa Bay in 2003 from a 17-point deficit to win in Houston last season.

 “I knew this was going to be a good one, but I think this might be an instant classic,” Colts rookie CB Jerraud Powers said.

 The game was memorable throughout, but turned on several plays late. A series after a 36-yard field goal by K Stephen Gostkowski gave New England a 13-point lead, the Colts moved 79 yards in 1:49 to again make it a one-score game, doing so when RB Joseph Addai scored on a 4-yard run to make it 34-28, Patriots, with 2:23 remaining.

 Fifteen seconds later, New England faced 4th-and-2 at the Colts 28.

Belichick at first sent the punting team onto the field, then called timeout and sent the offense onto the field. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who completed 29 of 42 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns, passed one yard to Kevin Faulk. Colts safety Melvin Bullitt stopped Faulk a yard short with 2:00 remaining.

 ”Everybody in the building was [surprised],” Colts safety Antoine Bethea said. “But obviously, they have confidence in their offense. We had to come back on the field and make a play. We were able to do that.”

 The Colts then drove 29 yards in 1:47, with Manning throwing a slant to Wayne on 2nd-and-goal from the Patriots 1.

 “Reggie called the last play,” Manning said. “We threw a fade route to him earlier and they defended it well. It’s hard for me to say it was his best catch ever because he has made so many, but it was timely.”

Said Wayne, “It was another one of those nail-biting games games with the New England Patriots. We were lucky enough to come out on top.”

 The Colts, who remained one of two unbeaten NFL teams along with New Orleans, extended their franchise-record regular-season winning streak to 18 games. They are tied with New England (2003-2004) for the second-longest such streak in NFL history. The Patriots also hold the NFL record with 21 consecutive regular-season victories from 2006-2008.

 The Colts, who won five consecutive AFC South titles from 2003-2007 before making the postseason as a wild-card entrant, remained four games ahead of Houston (5-4) and Jacksonville (5-4) in the division. Houston was idle Sunday and Jacksonville beat the New York Jets, 24-22.

 The Colts remained two games ahead of Cincinnati (7-2) in the AFC.

 The Colts took a 7-0 lead when Manning threw a screen pass to Addai, but New England tied it on the ensuing series with a 1-yard touchdown run by Laurence Maroney, the first of 24 consecutive points for New England.

After a 31-yard field goal by Gostkowski, Patriots WR Randy Moss (nine catches, 179 yards) outfought Colts S Antoine Bethea for a 63-yard touchdown to give New England a 17-7 lead.  Brady made it 24-7 with a nine-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Julian Edelman on the ensuing series.

Wayne’s 20-yard touchdown reception cut the lead to 24-14, where the score remained until Brady threw five yards to Moss early in the fourth quarter. Manning finished the next drive with his third touchdown pass of the game, a 29-yard pump-and-go to Pierre Garcon. That made it 31-21 with 12:14 remaining.

“It was a good battle, a great battle,” Bethea said. “It just shows what kind of team we have. There was no bickering on the sidelines. We hung in there together. We stuck in there. We were a team. We can build off this.”