Tom Brady’s numbers don’t really tell the story.
They were good -- 10-for-15 for 100 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. But that's not why we’re here, right? It’s all about the left knee. And by those standards, it’s all good, especially after 11 months away from the football field.
“I think there’s no place I’d rather be,” Brady said after the game. “That about sums it up.”
During his 24 snaps in Thursday night’s win over the Eagles (the recap of the game can be found here), he did not face serious pressure in the pocket, but was able to deftly avoid the rush on a few occasions. He was never in any real danger, thanks to an offensive line that kept him out of harm's way much of the night. (“The offensive line did a great job,” he said.) Playing with his sizable brace on the knee, he did not appear to be moving uncharacteristically. He engineered a pair of scoring drives -- both capped by scoring tosses to new Patriots’ tight end Chris Baker -- and didn’t appear all that rusty.
There were a few misfires, and he certainly wasn’t in midseason form. But for an August night in Philadelphia, roughly 11 months since Bernard Pollard collided with his knee, it’s good enough.
“He looked great,” said Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Highlights included a six-play, 72-yard drive that opened the scoring (helped by a 46-yard pass interference call on ex-Pats cornerback Asante Samuel) and a 10-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter that made it 21-6 right before the half. There was some bad: Brady’s second-quarter interception was a badly underthrown deep ball to Moss that was picked off by Philadelphia cornerback Sheldon Brown and left the quarterback fuming on the sideline.
“I missed some throws that I wish I would have made,” explained Brady, who tossed his helmet in anger after heading to the bench.
But in the end, it was clear the quarterback could successfully say he had passed another test in the rehab process.
“[A] preseason game doesn’t have quite the feel of a regular-season game,” he said. “But to be out there on the field with my teammates and celebrate after a win, and the bus ride home ... those are the things you probably enjoy the most.”
Here are nine other things we learned last night:
2. Other than Brady, no one had themselves a better night that rookie Julian Edelman.
The versatile seventh-round pick out of Kent State was likely drafted as an investment with anticipated dividends a year or two down the road. But if he can replicate the performance he put on Thursday night again next Thursday against the Bengals, there’s no way the Patriots will be able to hide him when the regular season rolls around. In fact, there’s the very real possibility he’s playing himself into the role of No. 4 receiver.
Running with the No. 1 offense -- veteran Wes Welker didn’t dress for the game – the mighty-mite of a wide receiver had a team-high five catches for 37 yards, working in the slot as well as split wide. But what will be remembered most about the night was his work in the return game. After an illegal formation call negated his first return attempt of the quarter, he made the most of his next play when he executed a textbook-perfect 75-yard punt return, using his blockers perfectly and racing to daylight to make it 14-3 with just over 10 minutes to go in the second quarter.
“Julian’s been a guy who’s good with the ball in his hands,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “It was a nice play -- it was good to get those points out of the kicking game.”
In the end, Edelman accounted for 136 yards on the night: 75 yards on punt returns, 37 yards receiving and 24 yards on one kick return.
3. Look for lots of different defensive fronts this year.
The Patriots’ defense played an awful lot of 4-3, which isn’t a shocker to anyone who has been paying attention over the course of the 22 training camp sessions. New England opened with Le Kevin Smith and Richard Seymour at defensive ends, with Vince Wilfork and rookie Myron Pryor at defensive tackle. At linebacker, it was Pierre Woods and Adalius Thomas on the outside and
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