Back where he belongs: Brady thrived in Patriots' 2-minute plan

By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Although Tom Brady had not completed an NFL game in 588 days before Monday night because of a severe knee injury that required three operations, he does remember how to finish.

After misfiring early, Brady threaded 11 of his last 13 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns in rallying the New England Patriots from an 11-point deficit with 5:32 left to an improbable 25-24 victory against the Buffalo Bills.

It was the 29th time the two-time Super Bowl MVP led the Patriots to victory when they faced a fourth-quarter deficit or tie. And it was one of his most significant comebacks for it showed an injury suffered early in last season's opener did nothing to diminish his confidence.

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According to wide receiver Randy Moss, Brady essentially promised the come-from-behind win against Buffalo when it seemed as if the Bills had secured a stunning upset.

"When Tom came in the huddle at 5:32 and said, 'Guys, let's get it going. We're going to win this game,' everything just went positive from there," Moss said.

Brady says he didn't think all was lost because of the amount of time remaining and the fact that New England had all three of its timeouts. "I was thinking if we can get down the field before that two-minute warning, it's going to put a lot of pressure on them," he said.

Using a no-huddle offense, he took New England 81 yards in an 11-play drive capped by an 18-yard scoring toss to Benjamin Watson. That narrowed the deficit to 24-19 when his pass for the two-point conversion failed with 2:10 left. But Bills return man Leodis McKelvin fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, and the Patriots had the opportunity they needed at the Buffalo 31 with 1:56 to play.

Brady nailed three consecutive passes, culminating in a strike to Watson from 18 yards out. For all of his time away from the game, the quarterback acted as if he had never left.

"They've done it a lot. They've done it a lot together," disheartened Bills coach Dick Jauron said. "They are certainly talented, and they are well-coached and well-led on that field, too. He is the guy."

Brady needed all of 60 minutes to reassert himself and to show teammates and fans he still thrives on pressure.

"Two-minute drives are always fun for a quarterback," he said, "because you're spread out, the pass rush starts getting a little bit tired, you start getting a really good feel for the coverages."

His pinpoint accuracy in those frantic last few minutes recalled 2007, when his mastery resulted in a single-season-record 50 touchdown passes, 4,806 yards and the league's first 16-0 regular season before the New York Giants ruined the Patriots' bid for perfection with a 17-14 upset in Super Bowl XLII.

Brady recovered from an erratic first half marked by defensive end Aaron Schobel's 26-yard interception return for a Bills score to complete 39 passes — the highest total in his 10-year career for a non-overtime game — in 53 attempts for 378 yards and two scores and the interception.

Then he turned his focus on the need to improve as he eyed Sunday's visit to the AFC East rival New York Jets.

"We've got to find ways to play better situationally, Brady said. "It starts with me and taking better care of the ball and making the throws when I have guys open, making better and more efficient reads and making more accurate throws."

It sounds as if he never left.

With help from Bills, Brady leads comeback win

by Jeff Goodman

FOXBORO, Mass. - Eventually, it became vintage Tom Brady — and vintage Buffalo Bills.

After nearly 55 minutes of Brady looking nothing like the Brady of old and the Bills on the verge of finally coming out on top against the Patriots, reality struck.

Brady, in his first meaningful game action in more than a year, walked into the huddle Monday night with 5:25 remaining and New England down 24-13.

"He came off the sideline," Patriots receiver Randy Moss said. "And said, 'We're going to win the game.' "

It didn't matter that Brady had struggled — no matter what the numbers say — for the first three-plus quarters.

It didn't matter that there was a year-long layoff after the knee injury he sustained last Sept. 7 midway through the first quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs in the season opener.

Brady finds a way to win — and he did it yet again.

After the 25-24 victory, he's now a remarkable 102-27 in his career.

"It's good to be on the other side of it," said a laughing New England running back Fred Taylor, who came over in the offseason after spending his entire 11-year career with the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Much better."

Whether it was rust or, as Moss suggested, nerves, Brady and the Patriots struggled to score in the first half. Buffalo led 14-10 entering the third quarter.

"It had nothing to do with his layoff," Moss said. "I think it was just first-game jitters."

There were dropped balls by Moss, Wes Welker and Ben Watson — and numerous inaccurate passes by Brady.

Nerves might have played a part, but so did 12 months away from a game that counted.

But luckily for Brady, 32, it was the star-crossed Bills on the other side of the field — a team that had lost seven straight overall to their division rival and 11 consecutive games at Gillette Stadium.

Brady needed some help to make his comeback a success — and he got it from Buffalo kickoff returner Leodis McKelvin, who coughed up the ball immediately after Brady led New England to an 11-play, 81-yard drive that cut the deficit to 24-19 with 2:06 left.

McKelvin opted to take the ball out of the end zone, was hit by Brandon Meriweather and stripped by Pierre Woods and New England kicker Stephen Gostkowski somehow ended up with the ball.

Then Brady went to work — again.

In the game's waning moments, you couldn't tell the difference between the Brady who had been considered the NFL's premier player before the knee injury and the one who led New England to its final two touchdown drives.

He had that swagger back.

Watson hauled in a perfect pass from Brady to bring the Patriots within a score — and then made a spectacular catch near the back of the end zone with 50 seconds remaining.

It was the 29th time Brady has led New England to a win after a fourth-quarter deficit or tie.

"I felt good all night," Brady said. "We were just off in the first half."

Brady's numbers were deceiving: 39 of 53 for 378 yards with two touchdowns and an interception (which DE Aaron Schobel returned for a TD). Sometimes the numbers do lie.

"I'm just glad it's over," Brady said. "We got a win and we'll take it."

If Brady's return to the NFL was the main event, Terrell Owens' debut for the Bills was the undercard. Owens saw the ball thrown his way just once in the first half, finished with two catches for 46 yards and was virtually a non-factor for most of the game.

T.O. wound up the loser while Brady was the winner.

No surprise there.

However, despite the late-game heroics, it'll take some time and patience for Brady to shake off the rust from a year's hiatus. He didn't take a shot deep down the field the entire game, and his feel in the pocket wasn't what it has been over his career.

But luckily for Brady, the NFL schedule-makers were kind and handed him the Bills on the evening of his return.

"I don't think it was what people expected to see," Moss said of the game.

That depends whether they watched the first 55 or the final five minutes.

Same, Old Tom Brady

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--Okay, so maybe it's the same, old Tom Brady, after all.

There were times during the New England Patriots' season opener here Monday night when Brady looked like a quarterback still needing to knock some of the rust off his game as he returns from a season in which he was sidelined by a knee injury suffered in the opener.

He spent more than three quarters piling up handsome statistics but failing to deliver the big throws to finish off drives. The Patriots didn't resemble the historically dominant team that, with Brady, took an unbeaten record into the Super Bowl two seasons ago. They trailed the Buffalo Bills by 11 points with 5-1/2 minutes to play.

But then their quarterback reverted to being Tom Brady, three-time Super Bowl winner and all-around football miracle-worker. He told his teammates in the huddle that they would find a way to win the game, and then he made it happen with a pair of late touchdown passes to tight end Benjamin Watson. The Bills did their part with a fumble on a kickoff return, and the Patriots escaped with a 25-24 triumph.

"It never gets old," left tackle Matt Light said in the Patriots' postgame locker room. "He went out there and did everything you could do. It's a great feeling. It's a great win for us. It's a big boost. It wasn't pretty, but it was fun."

The Patriots filled the stat sheet with big numbers. Brady completed 39 of 53 passes for 378 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Randy Moss had 12 catches for 141 yards. Fellow wideout Wes Welker had 12 catches for 93 yards.

But for most of the night, these Patriots didn't resemble the record-setting, opponent-demoralizing version of 2007. Their first three drives produced a failed fourth-and-inches run, a missed field goal and a possession-ending sack. Brady threw a second-quarter screen pass that was intercepted by Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel and returned for a touchdown. Brady and Welker failed to connect on a fourth-and-two pass in the third quarter.

The Patriots managed only one touchdown and a pair of field goals in more than 3-1/2 quarters, and the Bills had a 24-13 lead when quarterback Trent Edwards threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to tailback Fred Jackson with 5:32 to go.

"We didn't play very well in the first half," Brady said. "We missed some really good opportunities. The interception, that was a really bad play. You can't do that.... We've all got to improve. We've all got to make better plays. You can't leave it up to chance like that."

Said Moss: "We started off a little slow. It looked like we were trying to feel our way through it.... It his nothing to do with [Brady's] layoff. I think it was just first-game jitters."

It was at that point in the game that Brady became Brady again.

"When Tom came in that huddle with 5:32 left and said, 'Come on, guys. Let's get going. We're gonna win this game,' everything was positive from there," Moss said.

Brady's first touchdown pass to Watson, an 18-yarder, got the Patriots to within 24-19 with 2:06 remaining. The Patriots failed on a two-point conversion.

"I was thinking if we can get down the field before the two-minute warning, that would put a lot of pressure on them," Brady said.

With three timeouts left plus the two-minute warning, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick opted against an onside kick. Bills returner Leodis McKelvin fielded the ball two yards deep in the end zone, and chose to run the ball out. He was hit hard by the Patriots' Brandon Meriweather. Pierre Woods knocked the ball out of McKelvin's hands, and kicker Stephen Gostkowski made the recovery for the Patriots.

Was there any doubt at that point what would happen? Brady's second touchdown pass to Watson, a 16-yarder, came on the same play call, with the same defensive coverage by the Bills, as the first one. Only this time, Watson had to make a superb leaping catch.

"I told him it was the best catch I've ever seen him make," Brady said.

Brady called the win "pretty special."

Belichick was typically understated.

"I'm proud of every win," Belichick said. "It's hard to win in this league.... That's not exactly the way you draw them up. But we'll take the result."

The Bills were left with a stomach-churning defeat along the same lines as the Monday night would-be victory they squandered two years ago against the Dallas Cowboys. The Bills lost that game on Oct. 8, 2007 by an identical 25-24 score by surrendering nine points in the final 20 seconds.

For the Bills, this night was supposed to be about wide receiver Terrell Owens, who had two catches for 46 yards in his debut for his new team, then refused to speak to reporters afterward.

Instead, it was about another Monday night heartbreak.

"We didn't come to play a close game," Bills Coach Dick Jauron said. "We came to win a game. We're just disappointed."