Patriots Win Overtime Thriller Against Broncos

Tom Brady handed another painful loss to arch-rival Peyton Manning as a furious rally and a Denver miscue gave the New England Patriots a wild 34-31 overtime win over the Broncos on Sunday.

Patriots trailed 24-0 at halftime but came to life in the second half, striking with 31 straight points to set up an exciting overtime finish.

When a New England punt struck a Broncos player and was recovered by the Patriots at Denver's 13 yard-line, it allowed Stephen Gostkowski to kick the winning 31-yard field goal.

It was a familiar outcome in the longtime duel between the quarterbacks as Brady improved to 10-4 in matchups against Manning.

He threw for 344 yards and three scores to improve the Patriots to 8-3, one game behind the Broncos (9-2) and Kansas City Chiefs (9-2) in the AFC race.

Manning endured his worst game of the season as he completed just 19 of 36 passes for 150 yards, two scores and one interception.

Denver leaned on running back Knowshon Moreno, who exploded for 224 rushing yards and a TD, in building a lead but soon found themselves in the midst of a Brady aerial assault.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles, editing by Sudipto Ganguly/Amlan Chakraborty)