BENNETT HAS POWER

NEW ORLEANS — If Tom Brady and the Patriots were suffering from a Super Bowl hangover, it looks as though a trip to New Orleans pulled the defending champions out of it.

The 40-year-old Brady hasn’t often looked better in his long, illustrious career, providing an audible contingent of traveling Patriots fans who chanted their star QB’s name ample reason to spend the rest of their Sunday celebrating on Bourbon Street.

Bouncing back with a vengeance from a season-opening loss, Brady threw three touchdown passes in the first quarter for the first time in his career, eclipsed 300 yards passing in the first half for only the second time, and New England scored 30 first-half points en route to a 3620 victory over the winless Saints.

Rob Gronkowski had a 53-yard catch and run to highlight his sixcatch, 116-yard performance, but left the game in the second half with a groin injury.

Michael Bennett isn’t just protesting before the game anymore. He’s taking a stand against social injustice and racism on the field, too.

Bennett, who once again sat during the national anthem, celebrated a sack with a Black Power salute in the second quarter of the Seahawks’ 12-9 win over the 49ers on Sunday.

On third-and-six with the 49ers at the Seahawks’ 18-yard line, Bennett raced around the right end of the 49ers’ offensive line before bringing down quarterback Brian Hoyer from behind for a four-yard loss. Bennett then took a couple steps towards the 30-yard line before standing still and raising his right fist in the air while teammates Jarran Reed and Cliff Avril congratulated him for the impressive play.

Bennett’s sack brought up 4thand-10 and forced the 49ers to kick a field goal.

Bennett revealed two weeks ago he was the victim of racial profiling by Las Vegas police. The Seahawks defensive end said Las Vegas police held him to the ground and put a gun to his head, warning him if he moved they would “blow (his) f----g head off.”

Prior to the game, Bennett’s younger brother, Reshaud Bennett, led a Black Lives Matter rally through the streets of Seattle’s International District, according to the Seattle Times. Leaders of the march chanted: “Mikey B is under attack. What do we do? Colin Kap is under attack, what do we do? Black lives are under attack, what do we do?”

“Stand up, fight back,” a group of more than a hundred protesters responded, according to the Seattle Times.