In showing confidence in his offense, Belichick set off an inadvertent side effect.

The Colts' defense was offended by the boldness.

"I was thinking, ‘Man, they're going to try us like that? They're going to disrespect us like that?' " linebacker Philip Wheeler said. "We've got to stop them. We've got to man up. And we did that. Maybe it wasn't disrespectful, maybe it was the smartest thing they could think of to do. I think we handled our business when they did it."

"We just felt as though, that was a slap in the face," free safety Antoine Bethea said. "Fourth down, in their territory? That was just a smack in the face. But the defense, we stood up and made a big play."