PITTSBURGH — The knot flashing from Richard Seymour's forehead after the New England Patriots gutted out a 23-20 victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday was a fitting symbol for a heavyweight title fight of a game.

The Patriots committed three turnovers, including two inside the red zone that squandered golden chances. They were penalized 10 times for 118 yards, including a fourth-down pass interference that set up a tying touchdown in the final minutes. They lost two key players to possible season-ending injuries — defensive heart-and-soul safety Rodney Harrison and blind-side left tackle protector Matt Light.

Yet once again, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions survived — winning on Adam Vinatieri's 43-yard field goal with one second showing on the clock at Heinz Field to cap another last-minute drive directed by quarterback Tom Brady.

Vinatieri put the finishing touch on a bounce-back test for the Patriots (2-1) that extended the team's NFL-best streak of 36 weeks in which they have not suffered consecutive defeats.

Pittsburgh (2-1), which blew numerous chances of its own, fell for the first time in the regular season with Ben Roethlisberger as starting quarterback, snapping his winning streak at 15 consecutive victories.

In the end, though, the ball was in the hands of the other quarterback.

Brady completed all 12 of his passes in the fourth quarter for 163 yards, including a 17-yard screen to tailback Kevin Faulk and a 14-yard dump-off to fullback Patrick Pass on the first two plays to jumpstart the final, five-play, 37-yard drive. When David Givens moved to the Steelers' 31-yard line for a 6-yard gain on second down, the Steelers elected not to use their final timeout, and out trotted Vinatieri.

"It was kind of like a basketball game," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. "We were playing for the last shot."

And Vinatieri is akin to a red-hot 3-point shooter. No sweat.

"At that point," he said, "it's get up as close as you can. We were going to kick it anyway."

COLTS 13, BROWNS 6

INDIANAPOLIS — Peyton Manning is setting records, but Indianapolis' ground game and defense are producing the wins.

Edgerrin James topped 100 yards and scored his first touchdown of the season, while the Colts used another strong defensive effort and two time-consuming drives in the second half to hold off Cleveland.

"There's been times where we've been 2-1 and scoring a lot of points and everybody says, 'What's wrong with the defense?' " Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy said. "I think when our offense gets into situations when we have to score and play up-tempo, I'm pretty confident we'll be able to score."

Indianapolis (3-0) followed this year's standard formula to win a record seventh straight at the RCA Dome.

With the Browns (1-2) defending the deep pass, Manning let James grind it out. He carried 27 times for 108 yards, and the Colts' suddenly impressive defense took care of the rest by pressuring Trent Dilfer and shutting down the Browns' running game.

Peyton Manning was 19 of 23 for 228 yards and topped the 30,000-yard mark in his 115th game, becoming the second fastest to that plateau. Miami's Dan Marino did it in 114 games.

JAGUARS 26, JETS 20

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Byron Leftwich switched plays just before a crucial third down in overtime against the New York Jets.

Leftwich noticed the Jets' defense was jumping routes on third down all day, so he decided to send Jimmy Smith long. The strategy worked.

Leftwich threw a 36-yard TD pass to Smith, giving Jacksonville (2-1) a win over New York, although the Jaguars had to survive a replay review after Smith initially was ruled down at the 1.

The Jets (1-2) have bigger troubles: quarterback Chad Pennington strained his right shoulder again, and backup Jay Fiedler could be out for a while with a right shoulder injury.

Pennington and Leftwich gamely played through pain, but in the end, Leftwich left his good friend hurting even worse.

"Byron made a good call," Smith said.