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Bill Belichick was confident in wind call

As overtime began, the result of Sunday’s wild game was up in the air.JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF

Another Patriots game had fans talking Monday morning, but unlike last week, when they were upset over the non-penalty ruling at the end of a loss to Carolina, this time they were basking in New England's unexpected 34-31 overtime win over Denver.

The game offered no shortage of story lines to rehash, with one of the major ones being Bill Belichick's decision at the start of overtime to put the ball in Peyton Manning's hands and defend the north end zone. He showed faith that his defense would hold the Broncos, who were trying to score into the open end of Gillette Stadium, where wind gusts were knocking down passes and warm-up kicks.

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The decision worked out in New England's favor, and during a Monday conference call, Belichick explained his logic behind a call many would consider risky.

"You never want to give Peyton Manning and that offense, you never want to just hand them the ball, but I just felt in that particular situation, with the wind being as significant as it was, that we just had to stop them from getting into the end zone," Belichick said.

"If we could do that, then we would have a significant advantage in the overtime period. We just had to make one stop and keep them out of the end zone.

"Even if they drove down and kicked a field goal, I felt like in that game, the field goal to kick going into the lighthouse, you'd have to get the ball to the 25 to be confident in making it. Depending on how the wind was gusting, you might even have to get it to the 20.

"Whereas going the other way, I think you could definitely get the ball to the uprights from probably anywhere inside the 45-yard line.

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"I felt like that was a big enough advantage to try to keep the wind. As it turned out, the punting game also was a factor in that, too. Had we had the ball and not been able to score and be punting into the wind and all that, like I said, with their kicker and his distance, it wouldn't have taken much for them to be in field goal range."

After the win, Patriots safety Devin McCourty called Belichick a "genius" and said even the captains who went to midfield for the overtime coin toss didn't quite understand what he was telling them.

"We were like, 'Defer? Take the wind?' " McCourty said. "And it was obviously the best call."

Belichick relayed the discussion he'd had with McCourty, Logan Mankins, Rob Ninkovich, and Matthew Slater before they went to midfield.

"To tell you the truth, the whole situation was a little bit confusing because when I told the captains that, there was a little bit of a question of 'are you talking about deferring?' I was, like, 'No, we're not deferring, we're taking the wind, period,' " Belichick said. "[The players asked] 'Well, is that if they take the ball?'

" 'No, it's not if they take the ball.' We actually, with the captains, had a little bit of a conversation that they had right what I wanted to do, because it was a little bit of an, obviously, unusual type of situation.

"They were doing a good job. They just wanted to make sure that they had the decision that we felt was best and we got it. It was not one of the normal ones."

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Under rules enacted for the 2012 season, NFL overtime is no longer truly "sudden death." If the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown, then the game is over; but if it gets only a field goal, the opposing team gets a possession as well. If the first team to possess the ball in overtime does not score, then any score from that point wins the game.

So Belichick was putting his faith in his defense that it would stop Manning, and he knew that even if the Broncos moved the ball, they'd have to get well into New England territory to give kicker Matt Prater a chance to convert a field goal.

Either scenario gave Tom Brady and the offense a chance to win for the Patriots.

Asked if he would have made decision under the old overtime rule, Belichick said he didn't know and hearkened back to the 1986 NFC title game at the Meadowlands when he was defensive coordinator on Bill Parcells's New York Giants staff.

Parcells took the wind to start that game against the Redskins, the Giants built a 17-0 halftime lead, and that score remained through the second half, with the Giants moving on to the Super Bowl.

"I really think that that decision was a big decision in that game and a big decision ultimately in that team's championship," said Belichick. "I learned a lot from that.

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"I'm not saying that that's always the right decision. Clearly each situation is different but there's a place for it. I think there's a time when it's right. I just thought that last night was the right time for us."


Shalise Manza Young can be reached at syoung@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shalisemyoung.