DENVER (AP) — Slow starts, solved. Furious finishes, those, too.

Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score and the New England Patriots shut down Tim Tebow’s late-game heroics with a 41-23 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

The Patriots (11-3) won their sixth straight game and another AFC East title by bouncing back from an early 17-6 deficit and an awful first quarter in which they were outgained on the ground 167 yards to 4.

Brady made sure there would be no last-minute magic on this day from Tebow, who had guided the Broncos (8-6) to four straight fourth-quarter comebacks and six wins in a row.

Tebow, who had managed just four scoring drives in 21 first-quarter possessions during his incredible six-week run, drove Denver to touchdowns on his first two drives and then a field goal to open the second quarter.

Brady went to the no-huddle and marched the Patriots downfield against a shuffled secondary that sorely missed safety Brian Dawkins to pull New England to 16-14.

That’s when Denver’s great ground game suddenly imploded with two lost fumbles, one by Tebow and one by tailback Lance Ball, followed by a muffed punt from Quan Cosby.

Brady turned the trio of turnovers into 13 points that put Denver in a 27-16 halftime hole.

“If we hold onto the ball in this game,” Tebow said, “who knows what happens?”

Tebow’s 2-yard keeper pulled the Broncos to 34-23 midway through the fourth quarter, but Brady drove the Patriots 80 yards for his fifth scoring drive and that was that.

Instead of another slow start followed by a fantastic finish, the Broncos started fast and then fizzled.

“We did have things going pretty well early, scored on the first three possessions and felt like we were moving the ball good and then we put it on the ground,” Tebow said. “That’s something you can’t do against a great team and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

“Besides that, we were right there with them.”

And yet, so far away.

“We showed today that we’re not ready to go to the playoffs and make a push,” Champ Bailey declared. “We’ve got to get better and we only have two or three weeks to do it. If we don’t, then we’ll be sitting home.”

For a sixth straight postseason.

With their first loss since Oct. 30, the AFC West-leading Broncos face a tougher path to the playoffs, with a trip to Buffalo next week followed by a season finale against Kansas City, which ended Green Bay’s 19-game winning streak Sunday behind Kyle Orton, the player Tebow replaced in Denver.

They’re a game up on Oakland and San Diego.

“I definitely feel like we’re all right,” said Tebow, now 7-2 as Denver’s starter.

Tebow threw for 194 yards and ran for 93 yards and two scores in what, in many ways, was his best game so far despite the lack of another amazing comeback.

“I thought he improved,” coach John Fox said. “He’ll continue to improve. This was a setback, no doubt about that. But sometimes setbacks are setups for bigger things to come.”

After all, the last time Tebow lost, to Detroit on Oct. 30, he answered with an improbable six-game run that captivated football fans and cemented his standing as a cultural icon.

During the week, Tebow was the subject of a skit on “Saturday Night Live,” and his name was brought up in the Republican debate in Sioux City, Iowa.