FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mark Clayton got open and waited for the fourth-down pass that could keep the Ravens' chances alive.

Joe Flacco reached his target inside the Patriots 10-yard line and beyond the first-down marker, but Clayton didn't hold on with 28 seconds left. New England did — eking out a 27-21 win over Baltimore yesterday.

"Flat out drop," Clayton said. "It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game."

The Ravens failed on another fourth-down play on their next-to-last series as they tried to overcome the first scoring pass of the season from Tom Brady to Randy Moss and a 1-yard touchdown sneak by the quarterback.

On that fourth-and-1 at the Ravens 45-yard line, defensive end Ty Warren stopped Willis McGahee for no gain with 5:09 left.

"That was quite a finish," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "Stop them on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter, that's when you've got to be there. Luckily, we were."

But Ravens players thought McGahee had made the first down.

"The spots were terrible," Baltimore safety Ed Reed said.

Moss' touchdown made it 24-14 late in the third quarter, but Flacco's 13-yard scoring pass to McGahee cut that to 24-21. Stephen Gostkowski's 33-yard field goal gave the Patriots (3-1) a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

"We thought we had them down, but they started coming back," Patriots running back Sammy Morris said. "It was just one of those tough slugfests."

The game was decided when Clayton dropped the ball and the Patriots ran out the clock as they kept their unbeaten record against the Ravens with their fifth win.

Brady completed 21 of 32 passes for 258 yards and one TD. Flacco went 27 for 47 for 264 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.