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Brady was 23 of 34, including his first scoring toss to Chad Ochocinco. His TD run was his first of the year.
Brady made up for another bad day by the Patriots' defense to beat the Broncos for the second time in eight career starts -- the only team with a winning record against the three-time Super Bowl champion.
The Broncos' 167 yards rushing in the first quarter -- 11 more than their league-leading per-game average -- represented the biggest output in any quarter of the Belichick era in New England.
But they would manage just 85 more.
After the Patriots fell behind 16-7, they went to the no-huddle and Brady threw a 1-yard TD strike to Aaron Hernandez, who set career highs with nine catches for 129 yards.
The Broncos' ball-control offense stumbled after that.
Lance Ball, who earlier scored his first TD in the NFL on a beautiful 32-yard scamper, fumbled at his own 19 and linebacker Rob Ninkovich recovered, leading to Stephen Gostkowski's 21-yard field goal put the Patriots up for good at 17-16.
Then, defensive end Mark Anderson, subbing for Andre Carter, who seriously injured his left knee earlier in the game, forced and recovered a fumble by Tebow at the Broncos 40. Six plays later, Brady took it in himself from a yard out to make it 24-16.
Brady celebrated his eighth career TD with a masterful spike.
"I don't get in the end zone very often," Brady said. "Maybe once a season. So, when I do I get pretty excited."
The Broncos' bumbling ways -- which included a bad snap on an extra point attempt -- continued when punt returner Quan Cosby tried to field a punt on the run and muffed it with three seconds left.
Dane Fletcher recovered for New England and Gostkowski trotted out for a 34-yard field goal to make it 27-16 at halftime.
Tebow's 2-yard keeper with 8:41 left pulled the Broncos to 34-23 and had the crowd thinking comeback again, but Brady led the Patriots on another 80-yard scoring drive, this one culminating in BenJarvus Green-Ellis' 1-yard TD run.
"The more we fight, the better this team gets," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. "We knew they were going to come out fighting. They were going to come out fast and explosive. Our main goal was to weather the storm."
NOTES: The Patriots qualified for the playoffs for the 13th time since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994. ... The Broncos haven't won seven straight since 1998. ... New England hadn't won in Denver since 2003. ... Brady's last TD run was Nov. 14, 2010, at Pittsburgh.
[Associated Press;
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