PATS WIN DESPITE BRADY INJURY
Written by sport on September 8th, 2008 in sport.
PATS WIN DESPITE BRADY INJURY
With Tom Brady knocked out of the game in the first quarter with a left knee injury, Matt Cassel - with some help from Randy Moss - proved he could lead the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Moss caught a 10-yard touchdown pass and had 101 of his 116 receiving yards in the first quarter as the Patriots fought off the Kansas City Chiefs to win 17-10 at Gillette Stadium.
The injury-marred win was the 20th straight in the regular season for the Patriots, who needed to stop the Chiefs four times at the five-yard line inside the final minute to preserve the victory.
Brady went down grabbing his left knee when he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard while throwing a pass with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The reigning league Most Valuable Player, who set an NFL record with 50 touchdowns last season, hobbled off the field and went to the locker room.
But Cassel proved an able deputy to get last year’s Super Bowl runners-up off to a good start.
Brady will have an MRI scan on Monday to establish the extent of the injury.
Brett Favre’s re-emergence with the New York Jets got off to a winning start as his new side beat Miami 20-14 in a dramatic contest.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis intercepted Chad Pennington’s pass in the end zone with five seconds remaining as the Jets held on for the win.
Pennington, a former Jet, nearly rallied the Dolphins from a 20-7 deficit in the fourth quarter.
Pennington tossed an 11-yard touchdown pass to David Martin with just under four minutes to play, pulling the Dolphins within six points but then failed on the final drive.
Before Pennington’s comeback attempt fell short, Favre completed 15-of-22 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns - both coming in the first half.
Willie Parker recorded the first three-touchdown effort of his career to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 38-17 victory against the Houston Texans.
Parker, who scored just twice in 15 games despite rushing for 1,316 yards last season, was impressive from the off, finishing with 138 yards on 25 carries and scoring on runs of seven, 13 and four yards.
Not to be outdone, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger looked in mid-season form as well, completing 13-of-14 passes for 137 yards and a pair of touchdown tosses to Hines Ward in just three quarters.
Michael Turner rushed for a franchise-record 220 yards and found the end zone twice to lead the Atlanta Falcons to a 34-21 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Jerious Norwood rushed for 93 yards on 14 carries and scored a touchdown and Michael Jenkins caught a scoring pass for the Falcons, who set a franchise record with 318 rushing yards.
Reggie Bush caught a 41-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter to lift the New Orleans Saints to a 24-20 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Bush finished with eight catches for 111 yards and also rushed for 50 yards on 13 carries.
Drew Brees completed 23-of-32 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns for New Orleans. His lone interception was returned 26 yards for a touchdown by Phillip Buchanon midway through the first quarter, knotting the score at 7-7.
Brees’ other scoring passes went for 39 yards to David Patten and 84 yards to Devery Henderson.
Tampa Bay scored their lone offensive touchdown in the early stages of the fourth quarter when Jeff Garcia connected with Ike Hilliard for a two-yard score.
That touchdown gave the Buccaneers a short-lived lead, as Brees found Bush on the right sideline. The speedy half-back outran the Tampa Bay defence into the corner of the end zone.
The Buffalo Bills scored a pair of touchdowns on special teams as they opened their season with an impressive 34-10 romp over Seattle.
The Seahawks surrendered a 63-yard touchdown to Roscoe Parrish on a punt return and also allowed punter Brian Moorman to complete a 19-yard TD pass to defensive end Ryan Denney on a fake field goal.
Buffalo never trailed in the game as Trent Edwards overcame a slow start. After completing just one of his first six passes, Edwards finished 19-of-30 for 215 yards and a touchdown.
Donovan McNabb completed 21 of 33 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns - one of them a 90-yarder to Hank Baskett - to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a convincing 38-3 win over the St Louis Rams.
With Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown both out due to injuries, Philadelphia had three other wideouts step up and post at least 100 yards in receiving - Baskett (102), Greg Lewis (104) and rookie DeSean Jackson (106) - as McNabb found his range.
It was the first time since December 18, 1960 that the Eagles had three 100-yard receivers in a game.
Only a late field goal from Josh Brown prevented a shutout.
Rookie Chris Johnson scored a touchdown and the Tennessee defence dominated as the Titans beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 17-10.
Johnson, a first-round draft pick out of East Carolina, enjoyed a productive day running the ball. He rushed for 93 yards and had three catches for 34 yards, including a seven-yard scoring reception.
Greg Jones caught a one-yard pass from David Garrard to give Jacksonville a 7-3 lead but Johnson put his side ahead before half time.
A one-yard run by LenDale White with 3:47 left secured the win for the Titans.
In other early kick-off, Joe Flacco had a solid NFL debut, running for a 38-yard touchdown to lead the Baltimore Ravens to a 17-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Flacco, the Ravens’ first-round draft choice, started only because the two incumbents, Kyle Boller and Troy Smith, were unavailable. He completed 15-of-29 passes for 129 yards and wasn’t sacked or intercepted.
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