Broncos were far better than the Patriots

By Ben Volin |  GLOBE STAFF

MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY

Tom Brady has struggled in recent playoff performances, and once again he was less than sharp on Sunday.

The Patriots didn’t belong on the same field as the Broncos in Sunday’s AFC Championship game.

That’s the conclusion that jumps to mind after watching the Broncos trounce the Patriots, 26-16, on the coaches’ tape, a game that was much more one-sided than the final score would suggest.

Peyton Manning was masterful in the win, there’s no doubt about that. In a stretch from the late second quarter to the early fourth quarter, Manning completed 19 of 20 passes, including 12 straight.

But this wasn’t just about Manning getting the better of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. The Broncos were clearly the more talented team, across the board.

Once Aqib Talib went down, undersized New England cornerbacks Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, and Kyle Arrington were absolutely helpless to cover the Broncos’ all-star cast of receivers in Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, and Wes Welker, who combined for 16 catches, 245 yards, and a touchdown.

Young defensive linemen Chris Jones, Sealver Siliga, and Joe Vellano, who were nowhere near the top of the Patriots’ depth chart to start the season, were completely dominated by the Broncos’ interior offensive line, while Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower often looked as if they were out of gas. Jamie Collins couldn’t hang with Julius Thomas, the former basketball player who had eight catches for 85 yards.

The Patriots’ offensive line, surprisingly shaky this year, couldn’t handle the Broncos’ physical, oversized front four, including 335-pound defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, 293-pound defensive end Malik Jackson, and 274-pound end Robert Ayers.

And Brady’s receivers, which often included fullback James Develin and blocking tight end Michael Hoomanawanui split out wide, couldn’t create any separation until the Broncos went to a prevent defense in the fourth quarter.

The Patriots would have had to play a perfect game just to have a chance, but they were physically dominated in almost every facet of the game. There’s no question, the better team won.

A review of the game after watching the coaches’ tape:

When the Patriots had the ball

■ Brady has struggled in recent playoff performances, and once again he was less than sharp on Sunday. He generally had good protection in the pocket, but some of his reads and decision-making were strange.

Why, on third and 3 in the first quarter, did he throw a deep fade to a tightly covered Matthew Slater (of all people) when he had Danny Amendola streaking underneath for a potential first down? Why did he throw a third-down slant to Austin Collie, also tightly covered, and not look at Hoomanawanui streaking wide open down the seam (the Rob Gronkowski special)?

Brady was 24 of 38 for 277 yards and a touchdown, but he went 12 of 17 for 155 yards and a touchdown on the final two drives of the game, when the Broncos were ahead, 23-3, and playing prevent defense.

And of course, Brady’s inaccuracy on deep balls to Julian Edelman and Collie thwarted any chance the Patriots had of being competitive.

■ The offensive woes were hardly all on Brady. The only way Edelman, Amendola, Collie, Aaron Dobson, and Hoomanawanui could create separation was through trickery. The Patriots were liberal with play-action, using it 12 times on 41 dropbacks, with five completions for 86 yards.

On one fake, the Patriots ran a one-man route with Edelman and kept nine players in to block (Brady’s pass was incomplete).

Dobson also showed tremendous route-running on his 27-yard catch, sprinting upfield and stopping on a dime for the catch. And Shane Vereen caught five screens and swing passes out of the backfield for 59 yards. But on straight dropback passes, Brady’s receivers couldn’t get open, and the offense stalled.

The Broncos played two-deep safeties for most of the game and alternated between zone and man coverage. The speed exhibited by linebacker Danny Trevathan in pass coverage was impressive, particularly in cutting down Edelman for a 1-yard gain before he could turn the corner.

■ The offensive line protected Brady fairly well — the Broncos blitzed Brady just five times on 41 passing plays — although Nate Solder and Logan Mankins picked horrible times to whiff on their blocks. But the run blocking was completely dominated by the Broncos, who often brought an extra defender into the box, even on obvious passing downs.

Center Ryan Wendell had a horrible time with Knighton, Dan Connolly consistently was overpowered by Sylvester Williams, and Marcus Cannon was handled several times by Ayers.

LeGarrette Blount had only five carries for 6 yards and didn’t play a snap in the second half, as the Patriots turned to Vereen and Stevan Ridley.

When the Broncos had the ball

■ Manning was masterful. Not only did he consistently check the Broncos into the right play — their use of the inside handoff out of the shotgun was devastating in the second and third quarters — but he proved that he still can zip the ball into tight windows when necessary.

Dennard’s coverage on Demaryius Thomas wasn’t all that bad, but Thomas, at 6 feet 3 inches and 229 pounds, made some impossible catches on fade routes because of his physical dominance.

Manning also noticed that the Patriots’ two deep safeties were taking several steps back after the snap, and when the Patriots left the middle of the field open, he checked into a perfect draw play, which Knowshon Moreno broke for a 28-yard run.

The Patriots maybe would have had a chance to slow down Denver if Talib had stayed in the game to line up on Thomas one-on-one, allowing Dennard to take Decker, Arrington to cover Welker, and Jamie Collins and Devin McCourty to double-team Julius Thomas. But Talib’s injury was too much to overcome.

The best way to slow down Manning is to jam his receivers and disrupt their timing, but the cornerbacks barely could lay a finger on the Broncos receivers. They opened the game in two-deep man coverage but played a lot of Cover 3 and Cover 4 after Talib went down, and Manning patiently tore them apart underneath.

■ The Broncos used criss-crossing receivers throughout the game, and created easy separation when the Patriots were in man coverage. When the Patriots played zone, Manning attacked the flats, the deep middle, and deep corner. His reads were flawless.

■ Welker’s hit on Talib probably should’ve been flagged for offensive pass interference but didn’t look intentional. The two appeared to accidentally run into the same path, and Welker seemed to lower his shoulder to protect himself at the last minute. And it’s hard to blame Welker: He was absolutely leveled by Hightower when running across the middle early in the first quarter.

■ The Patriots’ tackling was pretty atrocious. Chandler Jones and Collins both whiffed badly in the backfield. Steve Gregory and Duron Harmon both whiffed on Moreno’s 28-yard gain, which should have been 8 or 10 yards. And Ryan gave Julius Thomas the matador treatment in the fourth quarter.

■ The Patriots blitzed only eight times on 43 passing plays: five five-man rushes and three six-man rushes. They also rushed just three defenders six times. But no matter what they did, they couldn’t get in Manning’s face or slow down Demaryius Thomas.

■ Vellano, Chris Jones, and Siliga were manhandled by Zane Beadles, Manny Ramirez, and Louis Vasquez. They didn’t get any penetration and were pushed around all day. And yes, that was Broncos tight end Virgil Green rumbling for 6 yards on a handoff.

Special teams

■ Pretty uneventful game in all phases. All seven Denver kickoffs went for touchbacks, as did two of three New England kickoffs.

Ryan Allen allowed zero return yards on three punts (two downed and a fair catch), and did a nice job of handling a low snap on his first attempt. Denver’s Britton Colquitt punted just once, a touchback.

■ Belichick probably should have attempted a 57-yard field goal in the thin air instead of punting in the second quarter. And he probably should have tried a 46-yard field goal in the third quarter when trailing, 20-3, instead of going for it.

Game balls

■ WR Julian Edelman: Pretty much the only offensive player to show up, with 10 catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.

■ LB Dont’a Hightower: Actually had a solid game, with eight tackles (one for loss) and several nice plays in the run game.

Tom Brady could 'care less' about watching Super Bowl XLVIII

By Will Brinson | NFL Writer

Tom Brady won't be watching SB XLVIII. (USATSI)

Super Bowl coverage: XLVIII odds | Expert picks | Super Bowl news

Watching a Super Bowl unfold -- after coming up one game short of playing in it -- can't be easy. It might not happen at all in the case of Tom Brady.

The Patriots quarterback, speaking to WEEI during his weekly appearance, said that he could "care less" about watching the 2014 Super Bowl.

"I don't have much of a rooting interest, truthfully," Brady said. "Those games are hard to watch. I don't really see myself sitting down to enjoy a football game to watch it. Our season's over. Truthfully, I could care less about watching the game. That's pretty much how I feel."

Brady's apathy towards the game comes from a pretty obvious place. He and the Pats were one game shy of making it to New York and getting a shot at Richard Sherman and the Seahawks.

Surely Brady would love a little revenge on "that type of guy," but in this case he won't get it. And though he and Peyton Manning are friendly off the field, it's doubtful he'd enjoy seeing Manning knock down his second Lombardi Trophy since Brady captured his last Super Bowl victory.

Unfortunately for Brady he'll probably have to spend the evening at his tiny little house with his supermodel wife Gisele. Tough break. At least this time she'll be free to criticize Wes Welker's ability to catch the ball.

The Injuries That Made Peyton Manning and Tom Brady

Sunday’s battle between the Michelangelo and Picasso of football is happening thanks to luck and 21st century medicine.

In his 16-year career, Peyton Manning has never suffered a concussion. Tom Brady has only ever suffered one, according to his father.

So it’s not surprising that the media has mainly focused on the football field and trophy case as we prepare for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game duel between Manning’s Denver Broncos and Brady’s New England Patriots. There’s plenty to discuss between Manning’s record-breaking season (55 touchdown passes, 5,477 yards) and Brady’s unflinching year (his top five receivers from 2012 were either injured, in jail, or on another team); Manning’s four MVP awards (two more than Tom) and Brady’s three Super Bowl rings (two more than Peyton); Manning’s cold weather struggles and Brady’s cold-as-ice reputation; the men’s head-to-head record (10-4 Brady) and their refusal to publicly admit to the rivalry.

In a year in which the conversation has centered as much on concussions as read-option offenses, this might be a welcome respite from the increasingly unsettling and pervasive understanding that America’s real pastime seems to be ruining ex-players’ lives, if not killing them.

These days, we’re constantly trying to reconcile the duality of fandom, Jiminy Cricket sitting on one shoulder while Terry Tate Office Linebacker tries to tackle him from the other. As Grantland’s Brian Phillips wrote in a brilliant piece on “un-innocence” in sports: “Fully aware that we couldn’t love sports with an entirely clear conscience, and fully aware that we still loved sports, we somehow decided that those awarenesses just… didn’t need to be resolved. They were like two bubbles that would pop if they touched each other, only they didn’t touch each other, because we figured out a way to keep them apart.”

Manning-Brady XV, as the contest is being called, seems to be the perfect chance to float away inside that happy sports bubble. We can celebrate pinpoint passing and preternatural feel for the game, debate history and legacy, laugh about “Omaha” and literally cheesy commercials, and enjoy watching two master craftsmen go about their work.

Just ask receiver Wes Welker, who spent six seasons catching passes from Brady before joining the Broncos last offseason. “They’re both spectacular,” Welker said over the summer. “It’s like comparing Picasso and Michelangelo.”

But as beautiful as we expect this game to be—and as important as we know it is—we just can’t forget the serious stuff. Maybe we can for an hour or three on Sunday, but not now, not yet.

The two quarterbacks are obviously products of talent and dedication and hard work, but they’re also products of luck and 21st century medical science. Despite the one concussion combined, their careers have been consistently and irrevocably influenced by injury. You can’t really talk about the two of them without thinking about that.

For the first 13 years of his career, 227 consecutive games, Manning was invincible. He never missed a start and seemed to get hit about as often as Muhammad Ali did. Still, it’s impossible to completely avoid collisions playing professional football, and by 2010 Manning was coping with severe neck pain. First there was the pinched nerve and then the herniated disc, which led Manning to undergo four surgeries, including a major spinal fusion procedure. (Read this if you want to spend the rest of your life cautiously rubbing your neck.)

Manning sat out the entire 2011 season, and there were doubts as to whether he’d ever step on the field again. The Indianapolis Colts, the team that drafted him first overall in 1998, released him during that offseason. When he signed with Denver in March 2012, he admitted he had to “relearn” how to throw and said his first attempt “nose-dived after about five yards.” Now it’s clear that he relearned pretty good.

Brady, meanwhile, got his first opportunity to play due to someone else’s injury. He was a backup, firmly planted behind strong-armed Pro Bowler Drew Bledsoe until the second week of 2001, when Bledsoe received a brutal hit from New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis that practically exploded his chest. While Bledsoe recuperated from internal bleeding, Brady took the reins of the Patriots offense and never relinquished them, promptly reeling off his own consecutive-games streak of 128. (Fun fact: Brady’s first career start was against, you guessed it, Manning, and the Patriots dominated 44-13.)

In 2007, Brady lead New England to a perfect 16-0 regular season record only to suffer an agonizing Super Bowl loss to Peyton’s little brother Eli and the New York Giants. The next year, Brady attempted a mere 11 passes before tearing his ACL and missing the rest of the season, essentially sidelining the Patriots’ title aspirations. Fortunately, Brady would also return to peak form, earning the Most Valuable Player award in 2010.

But what if Manning’s neck hadn’t recovered? What if he had tried to come back, only to play a couple middling seasons and then grudgingly retire or, worse, become a backup? What if Bledsoe had stepped out of bounds a yard earlier? What if it had taken Brady several more years to get a crack at a starting role?

There’s no real use dealing in hypotheticals, but thinking about the injury history of Manning and Brady is a reminder of just how fickle football can be. When you hear them talk about much they love playing football and how grateful they are for their long careers, you realize just how rare that is.

On Sunday, when we settle into our EZ Chairs and become mesmerized by an exhilarating game, we might find ourselves watching Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and forgetting that they’re not immortal, that they’re not football automatons.

But then we’ll notice Welker, the shifty slot receiver who suffered two concussions this season and missed the final three games before the playoffs. We’ll notice his cartoonish helmet, designed to better protect his fragile brain. We may initially laugh, just like we did last week, before checking ourselves and asking, “Wait, if he has to wear that monstrosity, should he really be playing?”

Who knows what Welker’s head will feel like in ten or 20 years? Who knows whether Manning will wake up daily with a burning neck, or whether Brady will be walking with a limp?

When we tune in for Manning-Brady XV, let’s talk audibles and out routes, history and legacy and destiny. Let’s try to escape, however briefly, into that happy sports bubble. But even with Manning and Brady, we can’t live there forever.

Copyright : thedailybeast

Title-game tussles: Brady-Manning, 49ers-Seahawks

Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press

Well, well. We meet again.

Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady in the AFC championship game. The San Francisco 49ers vs. the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC title bout.

It'll be a Sunday of rivalry showdowns next weekend, with familiar foes a win away from the Super Bowl.

Manning helped lead the Denver Broncos past the San Diego Chargers 24-17 on Sunday, setting up another meeting with Brady and the New England Patriots.

The Broncos opened as 6½-point favorites for the game at Denver.

BRONCOS: Denver advances after defeating San Diego

49ERS: Colin Kaepernick lifts 49ers over Panthers

"It's the Broncos versus the Patriots and certainly Tom and I have played against each other a lot," Manning said, "but when you get to the AFC championship, it's about two good teams that have been through a lot to get there."

In the NFC, the 49ers and Seahawks are all set to play for the NFC championship in the latest chapter in one of the NFL's budding — and bitter — rivalries.

The Seahawks (14-3) opened as 3-point favorites for the game at Seattle.

The Broncos (14-3) controlled the game against the Chargers (10-8) for 3½ quarters before Philip Rivers capitalized on an injury to cornerback Chris Harris Jr. to stage a comeback reminiscent of Baltimore's shocking win at Denver exactly a year earlier.

But this time, Manning rescued the Broncos from the brink of another crushing collapse and sent them into the title game for the first time in eight seasons.

Peyton Manning (left) and Tom Brady (right) will face off against one another.

Manning and Brady have squared off 14 times throughout their careers, with the Patriots quarterback holding a 10-4 edge in the head-to-head matchup — including a 34-31 overtime victory in November.

"They're a great team, they had a big win last night," Manning said. "We're going to enjoy this one tonight, start to work on them tomorrow and I know it'll be a heck of a game."

Manning was 25 of 36 for 230 yards and two TDs, but the Broncos controlled the clock by largely sticking to the ground game. After gaining just 18 yards against San Diego last month, the Broncos ran for 133 yards, including 82 by Knowshon Moreno, whose 3-yard TD run put them ahead 24-7 with 8:12 left.

The Chargers rallied to get within a score late, but Manning completed a pair of key third-down passes in the final minutes to prevent San Diego from getting a final chance.

At Foxborough, Mass., LeGarrette Blount carried the Patriots (13-4) to their third straight AFC title game with four touchdown runs in a 43-22 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday night.

"It's just a great achievement," Brady said. "People have counted us out at times this year, but I think we've got a locker room full of believers."

It's easy to see why after they forced Andrew Luck into throwing four interceptions and ran for six scores against the Colts.

"We just had to keep our foot on the gas pedal," Blount said, "and make sure that they didn't to us what they did to Kansas City."

BOX SCORE: Broncos 24, Chargers 17

BOX SCORE: 49ers 23, Panthers 10

Last weekend, the Colts (12-6) pulled off a stunning 45-44 victory over the Chiefs in which they overcame a 38-10 third-quarter deficit in the wild-card game for the second-biggest comeback victory in NFL playoff history.

This time, there was no such come-from-behind performance for Luck and the Colts.

At Charlotte, N.C., Colin Kaepernick threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score and the 49ers defeated the Carolina Panthers 23-10 on Sunday.

San Francisco, which lost last year to Baltimore, is looking for a return trip to the Super Bowl. And lots of hard hits and plenty of jawing might be expected in this latest matchup with the Seahawks.

"I think we're the two teams everyone was looking at from the beginning," Kaepernick said. "It's going to be a knockdown, drag-out game."

The 49ers have committed seven turnovers and been outscored 71-16 in their past two trips to Seattle, including a 29-3 Week 2 loss in September.

"We're a different team than we were the first time we played them up there," Kaepernick insisted.

The 49ers (14-4) will get a chance to prove that next weekend after Kaepernick completed 15 of 28 passes for 196 yards Sunday, avenging his worst statistical performance of the season two months ago against the Panthers. He was held to 91 yards passing and 16 yards rushing in the first meeting with Carolina, a 10-9 loss at Candlestick Park.

On Saturday, Marshawn Lynch ran for a franchise playoff-record 140 yards and two touchdowns and Seattle's defense flustered Drew Brees and New Orleans in a 23-15 victory. The top-seeded Seahawks advanced to the NFC title game for the second time, and first since the 2005 playoffs.

"We haven't done anything yet," quarterback Russell Wilson said. "That's our goal. We have 60 minutes of football left."

Against a familiar foe.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh have been rivals dating to their days as opponents in the old Pac-10 conference.

In 2009, after Harbaugh's Stanford team ran up the score on Carroll's Southern California squad in a 55-21 rout, the two met at midfield and an annoyed Carroll barked, "What's your deal?"

They've carried that over to the NFL — and it might get ramped up again during the week with a Super Bowl appearance on the line.

"We're healthy, we're a great team and we're willing to do whatever it takes to get that ring," Gore said. "We're playing great ball."

The 49ers held Cam Newton in check, intercepting him twice and sacking him five times while stopping the Panthers (12-5) twice on the 1-yard line in the first half.

At Seattle, Steven Hauschka kicked three field goals in blustery conditions, and Lynch capped the victory with a 31-yard scoring run with 2:40 left that Carroll celebrated by jumping into offensive line coach Tom Cable's arms.

"It feels awesome," fullback Michael Robinson said, "but this doesn't mean anything if we don't win next week."

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."