Brady Leads Undefeated Pats Over Browns

Oct 07, 07:15 PM

Current Headlines:

Foxboro, MA (Sports Network) - Tom Brady threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns as New England bested Cleveland, 34-17, at Gillette Stadium.

Brady completed 22-of-38 passes for the Patriots (5-0), have won eight straight regular season games dating back to 2006. The All-Pro became just the second quarterback in NFL history to throw at least three TD passes in the first five games of a season joining Steve Young, who did it for the San Francisco 49ers in 1998

Ben Watson had six receptions for 107 yards with a pair of touchdowns, while Donte Stallworth also caught a TD pass for New England. Randy Moss was held out of the end zone but did have three catches for 46 yards.

Sammy Morris added 102 yards on the ground for the Patriots and Junior Seau had two interceptions.

Derek Anderson connected on 22-of-43 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns but had three interceptions for the Browns (2-3), who had won two of three coming in.

Kellen Winslow and Tim Carter each caught TD passes while Jason Wright had 59 yards rushing on 15 carries and added 43 more on four receptions.

The game featured a number of interesting subplots. It marked the return of two current Browns who played instrumental roles in New England's run of three Super Bowl victories in a four-year stretch from 2001-04. Cleveland head coach Romeo Crennel was the Patriots' defensive coordinator on each of those championship teams, while veteran linebacker Willie McGinest spent 12 years in New England before signing with the Browns prior to the 2006 season.

There were also ties on the opposite side as well, as Patriots head coach Bill Belichick served in the same capacity with Cleveland from 1991-95 and guided the Browns to their last playoff win back in 1994. That triumph, incidentally, came against New England.

The Pats took the opening kickoff and went 78 yards on 14 plays before stalling at the Cleveland two-yard line. The drive was highlighted by a pair of Brady-to-Moss passes for 16 and 20 yards, respectively. The Browns finally held and nearly picked off Brady as he tried to forced the ball over the middle to Stallworth in the end zone. Stephen Gostkoswki trotted on the field from there and drilled a 20-yard field goal to give New England a 3-0 advantage with 8:01 left in the opening frame.

The Browns looked like they would answer and drove all the way to the Pats' one before Anderson was picked off. The Cleveland QB rolled to his right and tried to find Steve Heiden in the back of the end zone when Asante Samuel tipped it into the waiting arms of Seau.

"We came up and played a good football team at their place and we didn't do enough things to win the game," said Crennel.

"We threw some turnovers," he added. "They intercepted some balls in good field position, and when you give Tom Brady good field position, he is going to hurt you. Sometimes when you give him bad field position, he is going to hurt you."

New England failed to take advantage of the change in momentum as the Cleveland defense forced a three-and-out. But, Anderson was in a giving mood and threw another interception. This time Adalius Thomas tipped the ball into Samuel's hands and the Pats were set up at the Browns 34. New England needed only one play as Brady hit Stallworth, who broke a tackle and raced all the way to paydirt to make it 10-0 with just over 2 1/2 minutes left in the first.

Things settled down a bit from there until Gostkowski's second field goal, a 25-yarder with 6:12 left in the half, made it a 13-0 game.

The Pats kept pulling away from there. Mike Vrabel brushed Anderson's arm on a pass attempt forcing another interception, Seau's second of the game. That gave New England the ball at the Cleveland 25 and, three plays later, Brady found a wide open Watson in the left flat for a seven-yard TD with just 1:07 left before intermission.

New England seemed to get complacent in the second half, however, and Cleveland finally got on the board in the third quarter. After the teams exchanged punts to open the half, the Browns put together a nice drive featuring a 15-yard Anderson pass to Winslow. Cleveland lost steam at the New England 24 and Phil Dawson came on to boot a season-long 42-yard field goal.

Then, the Browns found the end zone early in the fourth quarter when Carter laid out for an Anderson pass inside down the left sideline and inside the Pats five. Carter subsequently rolled over the goal line for a 21-yard touchdown to make it a 20-10 game with 14:10 left.

The touchdown woke the Patriots up and New England looked like they put things away with an impressive nine-play, 71-yard drive. After Morris converted a fourth-and-one inside the Browns' 30 with a four-yard run, Brady hit Watson down the seam for a 25-yard TD to extend the Pats' lead to 27-10 with under 10 minutes remaining.

The Browns had one last gasp in then, however. Wright took a short dump pass 21 yards to the New England 14 before Anderson found Winslow for a 14-yard score with 5:56 left in the game.

The Cleveland defense couldn't rise to the occasion and the Patriots siphoned all but 52 seconds off the clock before failing on fourth down inside the Browns five.

Anderson quickly hit Winslow on the ensuing possession but Randall Gay forced a fumble after the reception, scooped up the ball and waltzed into the end zone to account for the final margin.

"It's always good to win and be 5-0," said Belichick. "I don't think that was either team's best game out there today, but in the end we were able to make a few more plays. We'll take it and move on to Dallas."

Game Notes

Browns running back Jamal Lewis left the game in the first quarter with a left foot injury. Lewis had one rush for 11 yards before exiting. He will be evaluated later this week...Patriots running back Laurence Maroney was inactive for the second straight week with a groin injury...Pats strong safety Rodney Harrison returned after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy...Anderson has thrown a TD pass in six of his seven NFL starts...Brady is a gaudy 40-11 as a starter at home.

10/07 18:22:28 ET