Pats Outclass Saints – Victory Bittersweet

Yesterday at Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots bested the visiting New Orleans Saints 24-17 behind a stellar 1st half from Tom Brady and the Pats offense, and a defense that in the second half did just enough to beat the visiting Saints on a very sad day for the Patriots and Bill Belichick.

Following the game, Coach Belichick dropped a bigger bomb than Tom Brady's 60 yard strike to Andre' Davis late in the third quarter to put the Pats up 21-7. Belichick announced to his team after the game that his father, Steve Belichick, had passed away the night before at age 86 with heart failure.

New England jumped out to leads of 14-0 and 21-7 before New Orleans came storming back in the second half. After the Pats seemingly put this out of reach with an Adam Vinatieri field goal with 8:35 remaining in the game, New Orleans responded with a touchdown a little over 3 minutes later when Aaron Brooks hooked up with Donte Stallworth for a 12 yard TD pass. The Saints were able to get the ball back 1:26 later, and traveled 34 yards in 8 plays over 1:08 to kick a field goal to make things a ballgame again, 24-17.

The Saints subsequently forced a 3 and out from the Pats and drove 56 yards and set themselves up with a chance to tie the game with only seconds left, which would have forced overtime. But, the Pats secondary came up big on the last play of the game when Eugene Wilson intercepted Aaron Brooks in the end zone to seal the victory for the Patriots.

Brady was very good on Sunday, going 15-29 with 222 yards and 3 touchdown passes, although most of his success was in the first half. Ben Watson (4 catches, 66 yards), Deion Branch (5 catches 38 yards) had good days for the Pats receiving corps, while Mike Vrabel was not only big on defense (8 tackles, 3 assists), but also caught a touchdown pass from Brady to put the Pats up 14-0 early in the second period.

Coach Belichick announced after the game that his father had passed away and that this game was dedicated to his dad. Steve Belichick died Saturday night after attending Navy’s victory (where he was coach for 33 years) over Temple, and watching more college football games that evening. Bostonist’s prayers and thoughts are with the Belichick family.

Photos courtesy of the AP.