Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Ellis Hobbs play key roles in
the Pats' lopsided opening victory.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Are you happy now? All that fretting in the preseason, about the lack of work Tom Brady had with his new receivers, and all those concerns, about how the defense would react without the injured Richard Seymour and the suspended Rodney Harrison, seem silly now. Don't they? The New England Patriots opened their season of Great Expectations with a 38-14 blowout of the New York Jets at Giants Stadium Sunday afternoon. Brady, given time to read the Sunday paper whenever he dropped back, was nearly perfect. Newcomer Randy Moss showed everyone that he still has plenty of football left. And Ellis Hobbs set an NFL record with his second-half kickoff return for a touchdown. All in all, a stunning way to begin the season, even if the Patriots did their best to downplay its significance. "We won, and that's as good as it gets," said linebacker Adalius Thomas, in his first Patriots start. "It's a long journey; this was a good way to start. We'll look at the film, make corrections and move on." Yes, of course, he is right. This was only the first week of a 16- game season. But the Patriots served notice to the rest of the league that their new toys – wide receivers Moss, Wes Welker, Donte Stallworth, Thomas and all the others – make this a very dangerous team. Brady completed 22 of 28 passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns. Moss, whose reputation has been sullied the last couple of years, caught nine passes for 183 yards and a 51-yard touchdown. Hobbs returned the second-half kickoff for an NFL- record 108 yards for a touchdown. Then there's the defense, which had five sacks and held the Jets to 60 yards rushing. "The bottom line is to make plays," said Hobbs. "That's what our offense did today. That's what our defense did today. That's what our special teams did today. It was a whole victory." The Jets never really did stop the Patriots. When the Patriots didn't score, it was usually of their own doing. Of their eight possessions – not counting their final one, with just 17 seconds remaining – they scored five touchdowns and a field goal. Their two nonscoring drives came in the first half. On the first, they punted after Welker dropped a third-down pass – trying to run before he caught it – that would have given the Patriots a first down. On their next drive, holder Matt Cassel dropped the snap on a 43-yard field-goal attempt by Stephen Gostkowski. The key to the win was the play of the offensive line – left to right, Matt Light, Logan Mankins, Dan Koppen, Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur. Brady said, "the offensive line played spectacular. They set the tone for what our offense did." The line opened holes for the backs – New England rushed for 134 yards, with Laurence Maroney getting 72 on 20 carries – and gave Brady plenty of time to throw. He wasn't sacked and he was hurried only once. Still, as well as the Patriots were playing, it was only 14-7 at the half – the lead coming on a 5-yard pass from Brady to Ben Watson with 1:07 left in the second quarter – when Hobbs began the blowout with his record kickoff return. Hobbs came out of the end zone and cut left. He was hit by New York's David Bowens at the 20, but bounced off and picked up blockers, who cleared his path down the left sideline. "The most important thing is that everyone continued to play the game," said Hobbs. "Nobody turned around to look at me to see what I was doing. They made those blocks." Fourteen seconds into the third quarter, it was 21-7. "We needed that," said Maroney. "We had to score first and do something. By him doing that it was like a big strike." Jets Coach Eric Mangini wasn't pleased, but noted it was just the start of the second half. "There are going to be big plays throughout the course of a game," he said. "Adversity is going to strike and you just have to deal with it, move on, and get ready for the next series." That next series wouldn't be much better for the Jets. The Patriots forced New York to punt – in the process, defensive end Jarvis Green sacked QB Chad Pennington, who injured his right ankle and hopped off the field – and took over on their 15. Five plays later, the Patriots had a second-and-6 from their 49. Moss lined up on the right, cut diagonally across the field and Brady lofted a high pass. Moss was surrounded by three Jets, but still caught the ball and strolled in for a crowd-silencing 51-yard touchdown. Gostkowski's PAT kick made it 28-7 and this one was over. "It was a play-action pass," said Brady. "Randy slipped behind the backside safety and he just ran away from the defense and I threw it as far as I could throw it." And the Patriots looked about as good as they could have possibly looked. Now, said their stoic coach, Bill Belichick, it's time to forget about it. "The players deserve a lot of credit," he said. "It's been a long week and a long preseason to get ready for this game and we came down here and did a good job. But it's one game and it doesn't really mean much." Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at: mlowe@pressherald.com

Copyright © 2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.

<< back to story >>