Patriots ride 24-point second quarter to easy win over Broncos

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The chant began midway through the fourth quarter with the latest matchup between the all-time great quarterbacks decided: "Brady's better." On this day, Tom Brady and his New England Patriots were the superior team, routing Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, 43-21, yesterday.

Brady outdueled Manning in the 16th installment of their rivalry and is 11-5 against Manning. He threw for four touchdowns and Julian Edelman returned a punt 84 yards for a score.

In his 200th career start, Brady passed for 333 yards. He has won 155 of those starts.

"He [Manning] has always set a real high bar for how to play and I have tried to do the same through my efforts with my team," Brady said.

Manning fell to 2-7 at Gillette Stadium, even though he threw for 438 yards and two touchdowns. He has at least two TD passes in 14 consecutive games, an NFL record.

"Well, I don't usually stink, but I stunk today," said Manning, 38, who broke into the NFL in 1998, two years before Brady. "I don't make any excuses."

The game wasn't particularly competitive after the first quarter, which Denver completed with a 7-3 lead.

New England (7-2) scored the next 24 points on the way to winning its fifth straight, halting the four-game winning streak for Denver (6-2) in emphatic fashion. Brady has 18 TD passes and one interception in those five victories.

Brady connected with Edelman and Shane Vereen on 5-yard scoring passes in the second quarter, with Brandon LaFell from 10 yards and with Rob Gronkowski from the 1 in the second half.

Most of Manning's yardage came well after the Patriots' fourth straight home win over Denver in as many seasons was secured. When it was closer, Denver's high-powered offense had little juice.

"The quarterback stinks, usually you're not going to win many games," Manning said.

Even with the two great QBs in the house, Edelman was a star. Not that New England's defense took a backseat, befuddling Manning so often that the Broncos barely got the snap off in time on several plays.

Edelman's first touchdown was set up by Rob Ninkovich's interception and 11-yard return to the Denver 34.

That TD gave the Patriots a 13-7 lead and Edelman upped it with his sensational, weaving punt return. Catching the ball at his 16, he got a massive block from Tim Wright along the right sideline, then cut back diagonally across the field into the left corner of the end zone.

"Minitron can do so many things, he's so quick," Brady said of Edelman. "What he did on the punt return was incredible."

Edelman tied a team record with his fourth career punt return score. He later had a drop in the end zone that hardly mattered because Vereen got wide open for a 5-yard pass from Brady with 8 seconds remaining in the second quarter to make it 27-7.

Manning hit Julius Thomas for an 18-yard score early in the third quarter after rookie Bradley Roby's interception. But New England came right back on Stephen Gostkowski's 45-yard field goal into the wind.

Manning's next pass bounced off Wes Welker, Brandon Browner intercepted it at the 40 and returned it 30 yards to the 10. Brady then hit LaFell for a touchdown and a 37-14 lead.