FOXBORO, MA - What was supposed to be a game that could help Patriot Nation forget the sting of Super Bowl XLII unfortunately ended up being a game that fans won't soon be able to forget.
New England managed to escape with a 17-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, but the victory came at quite a cost after quarterback Tom Brady was knocked out of the game with an injury.
During the first quarter of play on Sunday, Brady dropped back to pass and suffered an injury to his left knee after getting hit on a completion to Randy Moss. At that point the stadium went silent as Brady lay on the ground, clutching his left knee and writhing in pain. A few minutes later he got up and was helped off the field by the team's training staff, and later walked to the locker room under his own power.
A photo of the injury certainly doesn't look too promising as it shows the veteran's knee bending in an extremely awkward position. After the game to no one's surprise head coach Bill Belichick had little to say on Brady's injury.
"I don't have any update on Tom," said Belichick after the game. "They're looking at him and doing some tests on him so we'll see how that turns out but I don't have any information."
When asked about the hit by the Chiefs Bernard Pollard on Brady, Belichick responded, "I didn't see [the hit]. I saw Moss catch [the pass from Brady]."
If you tried to read Belichick's face during his press conference, he didn't look as concerned as one would have expected if Brady is seriously injured. But the coach is obviously the master of giving up nothing, so it's hard to tell just how bad things are with his quarterback.
"We'll see what happens," said Belichick later on. "I'm not sure what we're dealing with yet."
In Brady's absence back up quarterback Matt Cassel played fairly well, finishing 13-of-18 for 152 yards and a touchdown during the win. He also got some assistance from New England's running game which saw Lawrence Maroney (10 carries for 51 yards) and Sammy Morris (10 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown) both have big afternoons. As for Cassel he looked fairly sharp and simply managed to play mistake-free football, throwing with much more accuracy than he did during the exhibition season.
So for now Patriot Nation will have to hold their breath to find out the severity of the franchise quarterback's injury. The team will head to the Meadowlands to play the Brett Favre lead New York Jets (who defeated Miami 20-14) next Sunday, and then return home to play the Miami Dolphins the following week before the team's Bye week on 9/28. In theory fans could hope that Brady would only miss two games and have an extra week to recover during the team's off week, but obviously that will depend on whether or not it's a just a minor injury or if he suffered any ligament damage.
Needless to say the 2008 season is underway, and while the Patriots came away with the win, they definitely suffered quite a loss. Hopefully fans will get another chance to see #12 in the not too distant future.
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