---

FOXBORO - Rosevelt Colvin felt ahead of the game just from picking up a loose ball and running with it, let alone running it in for a touchdown.

"The last time I did that, I broke my hip," the Patriots' linebacker said Sunday after he scored his first NFL touchdown on an 11-yard return of a fumble by Jason Campbell in the Patriots' 52-7 victory over the Redskins at Gillette Stadium.

Colvin was referring to his second game as a Patriot, a 31-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sept. 14, 2003, in which he attempted to recover and run with a fumble by Donovan McNabb late in the first half.

The injury caused Colvin to miss the rest of the 2003 season and threatened his career. Surgery and a long rehab preserved him as a football player so he could enjoy Sunday's result and be a major contributor to it.

The Patriots' defense limited the Washington offense to just 224 total yards and only 47 on the ground, 27 of those on 11 carries by Clinton Portis. Mike Vrabel was the sparkplug of the attack, making 13 tackles (11 solo), three strip sacks of Campbell that forced fumbles on all three, including the 11-yard return by Colvin that put the Patriots up 38-0 with 5:47 left in the third quarter.

Vrabel made a quick exit to get his children home from the late-night finish of the game, but others gladly talked about his performance in his absence.

"The second half we played, we had a great fourth-down stop, made some turnovers, created some pressure," safety Rodney Harrison said. "Vrabel had a heck of a game, Rosey picked up a touchdown, so it was great."

"Mike had some big plays for us," Patriots' coach Bill Belichick added. "He made a nice play down there on the goal line and had some strip sacks. I thought he tackled well.

"Mike's a good player for us," he said. "He always does a good job and he had some big plays today. Knocking those balls out, those are obviously huge plays."

The Redskins' quarterback grudgingly concurred.

"I didn't see those coming," Campbell said of Vrabel's three strip sacks. "On those plays I was looking downfield, keeping my eyes downfield, trying to read my receivers and throw to the open guy. They did a great job of breaking in and making a play on the ball.

"One thing I have to do as a quarterback is go back and look at the film this week and try to find ways to protect the ball better when I'm getting hit that way," he said.

With all of the attention being paid to the Patriots' offense during the eight-game winning streak, it led some to believe that there were flaws in their defensive work, particularly in rushing defense and red-zone stops. But those doubts disappeared Sunday.

And it comes at a good time, with the Indianapolis Colts on tap Sunday at the RCA Dome. Both teams are unbeaten, and the Patriots are still stung by their loss in last year's AFC Championship Game. "You know that Peyton (Manning) is going to test us a lot," said cornerback Asante Samuel, who had his 20th career interception Sunday, "and that we will have to go out there with our 'A' game and we will have to play a good game. Last year we didn't stop them in the playoffs. We stopped them in the first half and then in the second half Peyton did a good job and lead his team to a victory. We will just have to play disciplined and play hard."

But according to Harrison, thoughts will only turn to the Colts now that the challenge posed by the Redskins has been dismissed.

"We weren't thinking about the Colts," he said. "We were thinking about the Redskins. You have to play a 60-minute game. You have to continue to play for 60 minutes. You never know what's going to happen. I think, more importantly for us, we improved in a lot of areas where we struggled in the past.

"That's what we're focused on," he said. "We're not focused on what another team is going to do. We're just focusing on the task at hand and making sure we get better for next week."