"Late last Sunday, before the Patriots escaped the visitors' locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium, coach Bill Belichick spoke to his players. The sting of that night had to stay there. "He told us to press on,'' cornerback Jonathan Wilhite said.

On Monday, Junior Seau gave his teammates an imperative. "Have a short memory,'' he said. When the Patriots gathered Wednesday for their first practice since their meltdown against the Colts, Belichick was convinced the Patriots had taken only one thing from the game.

"We couldn't let last week beat us twice,'' linebacker Adalius Thomas said."