Life’s a Brees for Brady in battle of legendary QBs
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 came in the first quarter.
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), Brees (41), Aaron Rodgers (39) and Brett Favre (36) — have done it at least half as many times.
With longtime go-to wideout Julian Edelman gone for the season with an ACL tear and probably his next favourite, 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 Rob Gronkowski (with six) and Chris Hogan (with five).
“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.”
As for Brees, he had a sub-par day only by comparison to Brady. The 38-year-old 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.”
CHIEFS HANG ON: The Philadelphia Eagles proved a far tougher out for the Chiefs in Kansas City than the Patriots were in New England 10 days earlier. The Eagles matched the Chiefs score for score until the final seven minutes, when Kansas City moved ahead 20-13 on a Travis Kelce 15-yard touchdown catch from Alex Smith. Then, after a fast Philly three-and-out, the Chiefs scored again on the second touchdown of the day from rookie running back Kareem Hunt.
COWBOYS CLOBBERED: Heading into the season, the thinking was the Dallas Cowboys’ lines on both sides of the ball would regress. Yet both looked great in a 19-3 Week 1 win over the New York Giants.
On Sunday in Denver, though, both were utterly overwhelmed in a 42-17 hammering at the hands of the 2-0 Broncos. Dallas RB Ezekiel Elliott couldn’t run it a lick (eight yards on nine carries) and the Broncos’ league-best secondary blanketed the receiving corps.
Dallas QB Dak Prescott was under almost constant duress and missed on 20 of 50 pass attempts.
Meantime, Broncos QB Trevor Siemian shone for the second time in six days, going 22-for-32 and 231 yards and four touchdowns.
BRADFORD’S OUT: Turns out that swelling around Minnesota QB Sam Bradford’s left knee is worse than originally reported. He didn’t even suit up in the Vikings’ 26-9 loss at Pittsburgh. Afterward, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer gave out a deliberately mixed message: “Sam is fine. He might play one game from now, he might play six weeks from now. Either way, he’s fine.” Sure he is.
ALSO HURTING: The Carolina Panthers lost a vital offensive cog in tight end Greg Olsen, who left their 9-3 victory over Buffalo early with what he said was a broken foot. Olsen hadn’t missed a game in 10 years ... Gronkowski left New England’s game early with a groin injury ... Baltimore lost one of the NFL’s top guards for the season. Marshal Yanda broke an ankle, head coach John Harbaugh said ... Cleveland WR Corey Coleman might have broken a hand at Baltimore, ESPN reported ... Denver lost first-round draft pick LT Garett Bolles with a left leg injury.