Patriots perfectly adequate

The New England Patriots had a 7-0 lead before they took their first offensive snap and still had Tom Brady throwing the ball all over the field in the fourth quarter against a 24-point underdog.

Same old Patriots, same old Bill Belichick . . . except this time, there would be no interrogation in the postgame interview room about poor sportsmanship or pouring it on.

This time, the Patriots were passing out of necessity, out of desperation.

With less than eight minutes to play Sunday night, the undefeated anti-heroes of the NFL were trailing a .500 Philadelphia Eagles team that was playing without Donovan McNabb. The Patriots needed a 69-yard fourth-quarter drive and a four-yard touchdown run by Laurence Maroney with 7:20 left to salvage a 31-28 home victory that preserved their quest for perfection but breathed life and hope into the rest of the league.

The Eagles and backup quarterback A.J. Feeley scared the arrogance out of Belichick and the Patriots. They had New England on its heels, especially on over-the-middle pass plays, and sketched out a road map for future Patriots opponents to follow.

The 11-0 Patriots are still unbeaten, but now we know they are eminently beatable.

Lost amid the surliness of New England’s recent 56-10 and 52-7 routs is the fact that Dallas in Week 6 and Indianapolis in Week 9 pushed the Patriots for more than three quarters. Dallas is 10-1 and quarterbacked by Tony Romo. Indianapolis is defending Super Bowl champion and quarterbacked by Peyton Manning. If any opponents on New England’s schedule figured to have a chance of victory, the Cowboys and the Colts were the ones.

Not the Eagles, who had spent the first three months of the season in turmoil ranging from Coach Andy Reid’s family problems to McNabb’s most recent ankle injury. With Sunday night’s start going to Feeley, the Eagles were rated 24-point underdogs by Las Vegas oddsmakers -- equaling the largest NFL regular-season point spread in more than three decades.

But that point spread placed a curious vibe over the game at New England’s Gillette Stadium. Consider:

The Patriots were trying to become the first NFL team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to complete an undefeated regular season.

To keep that quest alive, the Patriots had to defeat the Eagles, who were the biggest underdogs since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their winless expansion season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers covered the spread on Dec. 5, 1976, shutting out the Buccaneers, 42-0.

The Steelers play the Dolphins tonight in Pittsburgh.

If the Dolphins lose tonight, they will fall to 0-11 for the season, keeping alive their bid to complete the first winless season since the 1976 Buccaneers.

Feeley played for the Dolphins in 2004.

Apparently, the ties that bind the Miami Dolphins Alumni Assn. are strong. Thrown into the fray, thrown the assignment of trying to derail the ’07 Patriots and preserve the record of the ’72 Dolphins, Feeley went above and beyond the call. He completed 27 of 42 passes for 345 yards and three touchdowns.

Three interceptions, however, did in Feeley. The first, coming barely a minute into the game, was returned 40 yards for a touchdown by Asante Samuel. The second, also by Samuel, came on a pass into the end zone with 3:58 to play. The third, by James Sanders, ended Philadelphia’s final drive.

The Eagles’ near-miss came on a day when the NFC reminded us that football is played differently in that conference. Not that we needed any more convincing, but five NFC teams presented their own unique proposals on how to get the job done.

Minnesota Vikings: Free up enough defenders to catch three passes launched by New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and return them for touchdowns. Vikings win, 41-17.

Seattle Seahawks: Wait for St. Louis Rams quarterback Gus Frerotte to fumble the snap on fourth-and-goal from the Seattle one-yard line with 27 seconds to play. Seahawks win, 24-19.

San Francisco 49ers: Never mind about Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner completing 71% of his passes for 484 yards. Wait for him to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait some more in his own end zone during overtime, then sack him and recover the loose ball for a touchdown. The 49ers win, 37-31.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Lull the Washington Redskins into a false sense of superiority by allowing them to run up a second-half yardage advantage of 316-15, then wait for them to commit their sixth turnover. Buccaneers win, 19-13.

Chicago Bears: Dare the Denver Broncos to kick the ball to Devin Hester. Double-dare them. Hester returns a punt 75 yards and a kickoff 88 yards, Bears win in overtime, 37-34.

Taken on its own, Minnesota’s victory over the Giants in New Jersey seems sensational. The Vikings, playing without Adrian Peterson, playing with one of the NFL’s worst passing offenses in recent memory, roll up 41 points on four touchdown passes -- one of them, even, initiated by Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.

Manning threw for three Minnesota touchdowns -- interceptions returned 20 yards by Darren Sharper, 93 yards by Dwight Smith and 37 yards by Chad Greenway. He also had a fourth pass intercepted, but Smith unachieved on that one, returning the ball only 19 yards and failing to score.

Amazing?

Been there, done that. The last time the Vikings visited Giants Stadium, on Nov. 13, 2005, they also intercepted four passes by Manning. Sharper returned one for a touchdown and the Vikings won, 24-21.

In two career starts against Minnesota, both at Giants Stadium, Manning has had eight passes intercepted, which sounds about as bad as older brother Peyton’s most recent start in San Diego.

Peyton, who had six passes intercepted against the Chargers in a Week 10 defeat, watched Eli’s rough day from a Giants Stadium seat. That was depressing news for Peyton on the last Sunday of November, but a few hours later, the Eagles would provide him some encouragement as he looks ahead to January.

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christine.daniels@latimes.com