Patriots on top with Brady back
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady's return has restored a sense of normalcy to the New England Patriots.
Brady triumphantly re-emerged from his four-game “Deflategate” suspension with a 406-yard, three-touchdown effort in Sunday's 33-13 win over the Cleveland Browns.
The occasion left Brady's teammates “all amped up,” in the words of tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“All is well now that 12's back,” wide receiver and special teams captain Matthew Slater said Monday.
But in typical Patriots fashion, they're shifting their focus to next week's opponent. Only this time they won't have to answer questions about life without Brady.
“I guess one could say that (it's back to normal),” Slater said. “It felt as normal as it could be the first four weeks, but we tried to just continue to approach our craft the same way regardless of the circumstances.”
The Patriots went 3-1 in Brady's absence with a combination of thirdyear backup Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Jacoby Brissett handling the snaps under center.
Their only defeat was a stinging 160 loss to division rival Buffalo at Gillette Stadium in Week 4, marking the first time New England was shutout at home since 1993.
“The way we performed against the Bills was very disappointing for everybody in this locker room,” Slater said. “So to come out and get that bad taste out of our mouth and obviously get Tom and Rob (Ninkovich) back, it was a good day for us.”
Ninkovich also sat out the team's first four games for violating the NFL's policy on performanceenhancing substances. He made one tackle in his first game back against the Browns.