FOXBORO -- Watching the fourth quarter and overtime at Gillette Stadium Sunday, one was tempted to ask the question: Was Deion Branch ever gone? 

OK, that might be a stretch. It's been over four years, after all. He's missed plenty. The whole Laurence Maroney era, for one. And if you Googled "SpyGate" on September 12, 2006 (the day Branch was shipped to Seattle), you would find nothing on Bill Belichick and a whole bunch of stories about the Saki Macozoma surveillance controversy in South Africa. 18-0? Never happened, and no one outside of Exit 16W had ever heard of David Tyree.

So you get it. It's been a while since Deion Branch wore a Patriots uniform. But it didn't feel that way on Sunday, as Branch slipped right into his old sidekick role and hauled in nine Tom Brady passes for 98 yards and a TD in a 23-20 OT win over the Ravens that signaled to the rest of the NFL that this 2010 Patriots team A) can win big games without Randy Moss and B) must (for now; things can change) be included in any serious conversation when looking at the best teams in the league.

"I think the biggest thing is I just wanted to win in my debut," said Branch, who moved ahead of Vincent Brisby and into 12th place on the Patriots all-time reception chart (222). "It wasn’t all about what I did. The plays that were made on the field … Thank the front line, Tom [Brady] and also Wes [Welker] and those guys helping me out during the course of the game on certain things. I just wanted to win the game. Had I had two or three catches and we won I would have been happy."

Until the fourth quarter, it was mostly Nostalgia File stuff from Branch, who had just a pair of catches for 23 yards after three quarters. Sure, it was nice to see him out there again, and he got monster cheers from the best Gillette crowd of the year after he was introduced as a starter and made his first catch, but as the final quarter began, Branch's debut (re-debut?) would have had to fall in the "slight disappointment" category.

"I’m just going to run the route as if he’s giving me the ball, period," said Branch. "Every time. I’m going to run my route hard and if he throws it to me, cool, and if he doesn’t, hopefully the other guys make the play."

But with the Patriots down 20-10 -- and on the verge of losing a crowd that was not going to be on board with another loss to the Ravens -- the Brady-to-Branch connection was reborn. On a third-and-goal from the Baltimore five-yard line, Brady found Branch in the right corner of the end zone to cut the lead to a field goal.

One Super Bowl MVP to another, and Brady was more than happy to have the talents of Branch back in Foxboro.

"He did great," Brady said about Branch. "You guys asked me earlier this week if there was some chemistry there. I've been throwing balls to him for a long time; he made some big-time plays, that TD catch."

"It was just a great play by Tom," said Branch of his quarterback's throw on the TD. "He was telling me, 'Good job.' Once you see the play and you see him moving around in the pocket, that’s what enabled me to get behind the defense and then pull back out. It’s something that we worked on all week in practice – one of the plays."

Look, I still have no clue what Branch's role with this team will be. Wouldn't surprise me if he finished the season with 50 catches and it wouldn't surprise me if he's backing up Taylor Price in Week 14. I've given up trying to figure out how it works with the Patriots (raise your hand if six weeks ago you had Danny Woodhead and Deion Branch leading the Pats to a win over the Ravens).

But when it comes to Deion Branch and the 2010 Patriots this much is true: He earned his stripes with this club in the game-tying final drive of the fourth quarter and the game-winning drive in overtime. He caught four passes for 33 yards in that fourth-quarter drive, including a 22-yarder over the middle on the opening play of the drive that took the Pats from their own 14-yard line to the 36. And it was Branch who made the two impact plays in the final drive of OT -- a 23-yard grab on the first play from scrimmage and and a 10-yard catch on third-and-2 at the Baltimore 31 that set up the Gostkowski clincher.

"I’m not surprised," Branch answered when asked if he expected such a prominent role in his first game back. "It’s so different. Tom and I have been away for four years and I honestly don’t feel like we missed a beat. That just shows what type of guy he is, what type of player he is. Like I said, my job is just to get open."

Before we hear about this all week, let's take a deep breath and remember this: We are only talking about one week. Deion Branch is not Randy Moss. I know this because Branch told us that last week. Oh, and also because Moss caught 35 more TD passes in his 53 games with the Patriots than Branch has caught in his 54 games with the Pats. But for this week, all those people who longed for the days of Branch whenever Moss refused to block or wouldn't go over the middle or didn't run his route at full speed get to take a victory lap. For at least one day, Branch was more than Moss.

Think about this: Branch on Sunday had as many catches as Moss had in his four games with the Patriots in 2010 (and I'm pretty sure Moss has never thrown a block to match the one Branch landed to spring Brandon Tate's 22-yard rush in the first quarter).

"He doesn't let us down," Brady said.

He sure didn't on Sunday. And for Brady and the Pats, Branch is back where he belongs.