Pats’ Brady bounces back in big way against Saints
Tom Brady bouncing back strong from a pass-poor night in New England’s opening-night loss to Kansas City shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
But that the 40-year-old had one of the best statistical outings of his 18-year career in the Patriots’ 36-20 smashing of the New Orleans Saints — and their QB legend Drew Brees — at the Superdome surely did.
Brady completed 30 of 39 throws for 447 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. All three scoring tosses — 19 yards to running back Rex Burkhead, 53 yards to tight end Rob Gronkowski and 13 yards to wide receiver Chris Hogan — came in the first quarter.
It was the first time Brady has thrown for three TDs or passed for as many as 177 yards in an opening quarter.
The 447 yards were the third most Brady has thrown for in an NFL game.
What’s more, Brady broke the NFL record he’d held with Peyton Manning for most career games with three or more TD passes and no interceptions. It was the 52nd time he’d done it. Only four other passers — Manning (51), Drew Brees (41), Aaron Rodgers (39) and Brett Favre (36) — have done it at least half as many times.
With his longtime go-to wideout Julian Edelman gone for the season with an ACL tear and probably his next favourite, smurfy wideout Danny Amendola, out Sunday with multiple injuries, some wondered how Brady would adjust this week.
He adjusted by hitting 10 different receivers, running back James White most often (eight catches) followed by Gronkowski (with six) and Hogan (with five).
Stats, shmats. Brady said he was just glad for the victory.
“To be 0-1 with a 10-day break felt like a year, but it was good to go out and get a win,” Brady said. “The NFL’s tough, man. Every game is tough, every quarter is tough, every play is tough. You can’t take anything for granted.
“In order to win, you’ve got to go out there and ... compete as hard as you can every play.”
Team leaders in the lockerroom held special sessions last week to ensure the club’s new additions understood how Patriots players are expected to not so much play, but compete.
“Playing the whole game and finishing,” eighth-year Pats safety Devin McCourty said regarding the nature of the message. “We’ve won a lot of games from being behind early and coming back and we’ve won from being ahead. It’s that mentality of just keep playing. I think that irked a lot of guys (in the loss to Kansas City). And when that happens, you want to just send a message and tell everybody.
“Even a guy like (Chris) Hogan, who’s only in his second year here, he’s a leader now, too.”
As for Brees, he had a sub-par day only by comparison to Brady. The 38-year-old veteran completed 27 of 45 pass attempts for 356 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.
“They were more efficient than us,” Brees said of the Pats. “We knew we had to be uber-efficient and we weren’t in order to keep pace with them.”
Since 2003, the Pats are 43-6 (.878) in regular-season games following a loss. While New England improved to 1-1, the Saints opened at 0-2 for a fourth straight year. The Saints defence has allowed 861 passing yards and six passing TDs already.
“We only have one way to go and that’s up, right?” Brees said. “There’s no time to dwell on anything other than making the corrections ... We’ve got to find a way to get a win.”