FOXBORO — There was 5:32 left in the fourth quarter Monday night and the Patriots were down 24-13 to Buffalo when Tom Brady stepped into the huddle.
“We’re going to win this game,” the quarterback told his teammates.
Brady speaks from experience. Entering Monday night, he had 28 previous games where he had led the Patriots to a win after a fourth-quarter deficit or a tie. Year off or no, why would this time be anything different? Same as it ever was.
“I just felt we had three timeouts with 5:32 left,” Brady later recalled. “I was just thinking, ‘If we could get down the field before that two-minute warning, it’s going to put a lot of pressure on them.’”
Brady then proceeded to do just that, stringing together an impressive 11-play, 81-yard drive that culminated with an 18-yard scoring strike to tight end Benjamin Watson to cut the lead to 24-19 with 2:06 remaining. On the ensuing kickoff, Stephen Gostkowski booted it 2 yards deep into the Bills' end zone, and that pressure Brady spoke of started to take effect. Buffalo’s peerless return man, Leodis McKelvin, foolishly decided to bring the ball out.
“When I caught the ball, I didn’t know if I had two feet inbounds or if my momentum took me into the end zone,” McKelvin explained. “If I downed it, it may have been a safety, so I decided to bring it out.”
Bad move. McKelvin soon compounded his error. He ran into Brandon Meriweather, who held him up. Pierre Woods then knocked the ball free, and Gostkowski of all people would recover it at the Buffalo 31-yard line. Brady would make Buffalo pay, finding Watson again on a 16-yard scoring strike with 50 seconds left to make it 25-24 and give New England another comeback win.
Just as it was on Oct. 14, 2001, against the Chargers, Nov. 10, 2002, against the Bears, Dec. 29, 2002, against the Dolphins, Nov. 4, 2007, against the Colts or Nov. 25, 2007, against the Eagles. Comeback wins are a part of who he is. It’s in his DNA.
“That’s why he is who he is,” shrugged Buffalo linebacker Kawika Mitchell of Brady, who finished 39-for-53 with 378 passing yards. “When you count it, that is when he’s gotten it done.”
In many ways, this latest dramatic comeback marks the final real hurdle in Brady’s rehab process. He’s shown he could do everything else — Monday night was just another test. The surgically repaired left knee showed resilience throughout the spring and summer practices, as well as every phase of the preseason. He took his lumps, absorbing preseason blows from Cincinnati's Robert Geathers and Washington's Albert Haynesworth. And now, back to the real thing for the first time in a year, there was only one more thing for Brady to do to show people that he has truly returned — pull out a last-second victory.
“It’s a great feeling to have that rhythm and that aspect of the game back,” said Patriots left tackle Matt Light.
Here are nine other things we learned Monday night in Foxboro:
Benjamin Watson is indeed capable of coming through in the clutch.
Believed to be on the chopping block less than two weeks ago, the embattled tight end had the biggest game of his six-year career with the Patriots, finishing with six catches for 77 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Both scores came within the last 2:06 of the game, and according to Brady, they both came on the same route.
“He ran two great routes — the first was an incredible route,” Brady said of Watson, who caught six of the seven balls thrown in his direction and equaled his touchdown output from last season in just one night.
While the first was impressive, the second was a truly great reception where he reached back to haul it in.
“The second was an incredible catch,” Brady said. “It was the same play. It was the same coverage, and the safety really squeezed him on the second one cause he recognized it. I tried to throw it high on his back shoulder, and he just went up and made a phenomenal catch. I told him it was the best catch I’ve ever seen him make. Hopefully, there are a lot more of those in store.”
“It’s always gratifying when you score touchdowns,” Watson said. “That’s what
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