On the rebound
Tom Brady, Sergio Dipp bounce back big in Week 2
Tom Brady and Sergio Dipp both had big Week 2 bounce-backs in after their opening weekend bumbles.
The Patriots’ 40-year-old QB rebounded from a tough 16-for-36 debut to throttle the Saints’ secondary with a trio of TD passes in the first quarter on his way to a 36-20 win over fellow greybeard Drew Brees.
Behind Josh McDaniels’ aggressive calls, Brady topped 300 yards by halftime and finished with 447 yards as the Patriots (1-1) put their 15-point home loss to Kansas City behind them
“To be 0-1 with a 10-day break felt like a year,” Brady said.
Dipp must have felt like that, too. The ESPN Deportes reporter was the subject of ample sneering after his awkward debut on “Monday Night Football” in Denver. But he produced a Brady-like ricochet with a classic tweet Sunday.
During the Broncos’ 42-17 clubbing of the Cowboys, he tweeted a photo of a smirking Broncos coach Vance Joseph and declared, “I tried to tell you all . ... Vance Joseph is having the time of his life!!! ”
Well played.
Joseph did have a good time — except for calling a timeout that allowed Dallas to kick a long field goal just before halftime. Dallas had no timeouts left and Joseph had all three of his, so he was hoping to get the ball back before halftime to extend a 21-7 lead.
After Jason Witten caught a 7-yard pass, Joseph called time with 1:33 left, something he admitted Monday was a mistake because he couldn’t see the line of scrimmage well and thought it was only a 4-yard gain.
“So that was a rookie coach making a rookie mistake ,” Joseph said. “I heard about from (D-line coach Bill) Kollar: ‘What are you doing?’ Sorry, coach, I thought it was a 4-yard gain. So, I was chastised for it by Bill Kollar. That won’t happen again.”
The Broncos, by the way, held a classy reunion for DeMarcus Ware, who spent his first nine seasons in Dallas before a three-year run in Denver, where he won his only Super Bowl ring.
He was introduced not as a former Bronco but simply as an honorary captain for the coin flip.
“I had an opportunity from two great owners to have 12 years of fun,” said Ware, who took his young son to midfield for the coin toss.
“He loves football,” Ware said. “But I’m not going to push him into football. I said, ‘Daddy’s played enough football. Why don’t you play a little basketball, so you can get a little extra guaranteed money?”’
The Steelers honoured longtime president and chairman Dan Rooney five months after his death. Ben Roethlisberger took a knee in prayer and then sprinted to midfield holding the flag honouring Rooney. Roethlisberger showed off a T-shirt afterward that was a tip-ofthe-cap to the man who meant so much to Pittsburgh.