By Ian R. Rapoport | Tuesday, September 13, 2011 | N.E. Patriots
Photo by Matt Stone
When Tom lines up behind the center, the limits of what can transpire are nonexistent. And even when the quarterback turns in a career performance, abusing the Miami Dolphins defense in last night’s 38-24 season-opening victory, his teammates are more amused than shocked.
Brady threw for a team-record 517 yards? Four touchdowns? Leading an offense that gained 622 yards?
“That’s crazy,” receiver Matthew Slater said. “It’s like a video game. I don’t even think you can do that in a video game.”
Maybe if Brady was playing. And with the way he toyed with the Dolphins, it was like he was holding the joystick — even if most of the 66,860 fans at Sun Life Stadium didn’t stay around to see the end of the game.
“Look, it’s a team sport,” Brady insisted after going 32-of-48 with an interception. “Those guys were catching the ball on some tough looks out there. We made enough plays to win, and that’s the goal.”
When Brady found Wes Welker for a 99-yard touchdown reception with 5:44 left, the Pats had administered the exclamation point. The receiver stiff-arming Miami cornerback Benny Sapp to the ground only made it sweeter.
“You can’t make a big deal out of this or that,” Welker said. “It’s whatever we had to do to win. How many catches do I need? How many yards do I need? How many yards will Tom throw for? Whatever it takes to win. We have some high expectations for ourselves and we expect to be able to move the ball down the field.”
True, Brady wasn’t alone, even if the reigning NFL MVP looked like the future MVP in the Pats’ ninth straight 30-plus point game.
The tight end tandem of Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for 189 yards and two touchdowns, while Welker finished with 160 yards and two TDs. Receiver Deion Branch, who had no catches in the preseason, had seven receptions for 93 yards. Even center Dan Koppen suffering a broken ankle didn’t ruin a feel-good opener.
“Today was phenomenal,” said veteran guard Brian Waters, who joined the team last week as a free agent. “And there’s still some things that we can still get better at. That’s kind of scary.”
The defense flashed some positives, administering some pressure with two sacks, but allowing Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne to throw for 416 yards. Brady’s crew made sure it didn’t matter.
“You just sit back and admire it,” linebacker Jerod Mayo said.
The Dolphins came out swinging, taking a seven-point lead on Henne’s 9-yard run seven minutes in. But the response came like lightning.
Facing little pressure, even with rookie tackler Nate Solder and Waters starting on the right side of the line, Brady was surgical in his precision. Sprung by a 46-yard reception from Slater, the Pats tied it at 7 when BenJarvus Green-Ellis ran the ball in from the 4.
After Miami went three-and-out, Brady hit Gronkowski for a 10-yard touchdown to make it 14-7. Through two drives, Brady was 8-of-8 for 127 yards. With the Dolphins suffering in the South Florida heat, Brady poured it on.
“We definitely knew what the game plan was,” Miami cornerback Sean Smith said, “but that doesn’t make it easy.”
Last night was also the debut of defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who made two tackles and drew two holding penalties. New receiver Chad Ochocinco had just a 14-yard catch. The machine simply rolled on.
In the second half, Brady offered a rare miscue, as a batted pass was intercepted by defensive end Jared Odrick intercepted it. Brian Hartline’s 10-yard catch tied it at 14 in the third quarter.
A 2-yard touchdown toss to Welker and a 1-yard scoring pass to Hernandez, answering a Dolphins field goal, later, and it was a 28-17 game at the end of three quarters.
The defense forced Henne into an incompletion on fourth down from the Patriots 1 with 6:02 left. Brady hit Welker with the 99-yarder from there.
“It was no one-man band out there,” coach Bill Belichick said. “We had a lot of contributions from everybody, and that’s what a good offensive team should do.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1365383
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