Patriots a sure thing

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It wasn’t Pittsburgh’s top-ranked defense that made Tom Brady crack.

It was a simple question that did it.

The New England quarterback tried to stifle a smile after Sunday’s 34-13 victory, when he was asked about second-year Steelers safety Anthony Smith. It was Smith, remember, who guaranteed Pittsburgh would win.

So, were the Patriots targeting him?

“No,” Brady said, convincing no one. Then, he started to laugh. “He just ended up being in the right place at the right time.”

Right place is a relative term. Smith was burned on two long touchdown passes, the second of which -- a wild trick play -- sparked a second-half flurry during which the Patriots outscored the visitors, 17-0.

After a close and hard-fought first half, the game was over quicker than a Bill Belichick handshake. Good as they have been, Pittsburgh defenders found themselves in the NFL’s most perilous place: across the line of scrimmage from Brady and his incredible arsenal of receivers.

As his team took another step toward a perfect season, Brady threw four touchdown passes, leaving him four shy of tying Peyton Manning’s single-season record of 49, set in 2004.

The Patriots, by improving to 13-0, matched the feat of the 2005 Indianapolis Colts and the 1998 Denver Broncos, both of whom lost their 14th game. The only team to go unbeaten in the modern era was the 1972 Miami Dolphins, whose palms could be starting to sweat.

New England closes out the regular season with cushy home games against the New York Jets (3-10) and Miami Dolphins (0-13), and a tougher road finale at the New York Giants (9-4).

The perfection drumbeat is hard to ignore, even for a team that treats the future -- anything beyond the next opponent, that is -- like a four-letter word.

“I don’t really read the papers or watch a lot of sports television,” receiver Randy Moss said. “But my phone rings, the text messages come across my phone, and it’s hard not to pay attention to what’s going on.”

Moss had a starring role in the play of the game. Early in the third quarter, with the Patriots looking to build on a 17-13 lead, they ran a flea-flicker pass from Brady to Moss and back to Brady, who heaved a 56-yarder to Jabar Gaffney in the end zone. Gaffney was Smith’s man, and the safety couldn’t quite reach him in time to knock away the ball.

Because Moss had to catch Brady’s initial pass on a bounce, it might have thrown off Pittsburgh’s defense for a split-second and allowed Gaffney to get even more open.

“When I took off, everyone bit up,” Gaffney said. “I knew that if it made it back to Tom, it would be a touchdown. It took like forever for the ball to come down. I looked back and it was still in Tom’s hand, and I was like, ‘Come on! Let’s throw it!’ ”

The play was called “Ravens Special,” because the Patriots thought they might try it a week earlier against Baltimore.

“That’s the first time that’s worked in weeks,” Brady said. “It doesn’t work against the scout team -- they’ve seen it. But we’ve been practicing it.”

Moss had been lobbying to throw a pass since he came to New England last spring. Until Sunday, that request had been met with brick-wall resistance.

“They made it very clear that Tom is the only one in this offense that throws the ball,” he said. “. . . Once he threw it to me and I threw it back to him, and he threw it up, everybody was like, ‘Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. . . .’ And then it was caught on Smith.”

For all the backpedaling he did on the field, Smith didn’t shy away from questions after the game. He answered every one as he dressed for the bus, and he made no apologies for his guarantee.

“It ain’t like we’re coming up here to lose,” he said. “We just gave up some big plays. That’s what it came down to pretty much.”

The flea-flicker wasn’t the only play that fooled him. In the first quarter, he came upfield on a play-action fake and Moss ran right past him. Brady saw that and threw a long pass to Moss for a 63-yard touchdown. So wide open was Moss, he did a walking pirouette across the goal line.

Afterward, Moss happily shared his feelings about Smith’s brazen promise.

“I’ve played in the league for 10 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a player say something like that,” he said. “I know there’s trash talking each week. But to guarantee a victory? That was something hard. I don’t really know if the team had his back or not, but it was said, it was documented, it was printed, and it came to us. We went out there today and we saw who wanted it more.

“There’s plenty of young players in the league, so there’s no telling what will come out next. . . . I think that the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, as far as their toughness and their mouths, it’s no telling what’s coming out next. Like I said, they’ve done their talking throughout the week, and we did our talking on the field.”

It’s the Patriots’ way. Guaranteed.

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sam.farmer@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

*--* CHASING MANNING Tom Brady needs five touchdown passes to set the NFL season record: PLAYER, TEAM YEAR TD Peyton Manning, Indianapolis 2004 49 Dan Marino, Miami 1984 48 Tom Brady, New England 2007 45 *--*

*--* CHASING RICE Randy Moss needs three touchdown catches to set the NFL season record (* strike-shortened): PLAYER, TEAM YEAR TD Jerry Rice, San Francisco* 1987 22 Randy Moss, New England 2007 19 Mark Clayton, Miami 1984 18 Sterling Sharpe, Green Bay 1994 18 *--*