Patriots Preseason Week One Review

Brady looked good in his first action since last season's opener.  Despite going three and out on the Patriots' first possession, on their second drive, Brady led a six play, 77 yard drive, capped by a four yard touchdown pass to newly acquired TE Chris Baker. 

The drive's biggest play was a 56 yard pass interference call that went against former Patriot and (current Eagle) cornerback Asante Samuel on a perfectly thrown, 56 yard pass from Brady to superstar wideout Randy Moss.

The Eagles answered on their very next possession with a 12 play, 60 yard drive that ended with a 38 yard field goal by veteran kicker David Akers.

Following a Tom Brady interception on a pass intended for Moss, the Patriots' new 4-3 defense went to work, stopping the Eagles on their next possession after a 28 yard drive that ended on the Eagles' 35 yard line.

Rookie Julian Edelman then put his skills on display by returning the ensuing punt 75 yards for a touchdown, utilizing his brilliant speed.

The Eagles answered again with another long drive of 61 yards and another three points thanks to the leg of David Akers.

As he continued to show doubters that there was no rust on his arm, Tom Brady engineered another long scoring drive—this one for a total of 75 yards, finished off with another touchdown pass to TE Chris Baker, who, along with rookie Julian Edelman, made use of their playing time this game and proved to be great, albeit under-the-radar, acquisitions this offseason.

After a brief appearance by backup Kevin Kolb, AJ Feely led the Eagles out onto the field for an attempt at a two minute drill that would have to take the Eagles 80 yards for a touchdown to finish off the half. 

After a minute plus and 44 yards, Akers came back in to attempt his third field goal of the night, only to have the kick blocked by second round draft pick Safety Patrick Chung.

At the end of the first half, Brady had thrown for 100 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, and looked calm, cool, and collected in the face of the Philadelphia defense. 

While it wasn't surprising to see Randy Moss leading the team with 54 receiving yards, what was surprising was the impression 7th round draft pick Julian Edelman had made so far in the game. 

While his yards at that point totaled only 24 yards, he had four receptions on top of the 75 yard punt return earlier in the game.  Thus far, he has proven himself to be something of a poor man's Wes Welker.

On the first drive of the second half, newly signed QB Andrew Walter led the Pats on a 61 yard march down the field that ended in a 34 yard Gostkowski field goal.  After replacing the recently cut Matt Guttierez, Walter is now the only QB on the Pats roster not named Tom Brady with any NFL experience, having 333 career passing attempts and 1,919 yards. 

With only three touchdowns and 16 interceptions to go along with those lifetime numbers, Walters certainly needs to work on a lot in case he ever needs to step up and take the reins.

The remainder of the third quarter brought only bad news for the Patriots, as that last field goal would be the last point they scored until the fourth quarter, when Gostkowski would kick another field goal. 

Additionally, the Eagles' scored one field goal and two touchdowns on their next three possessions, bringing themselves to within two points of the Patriots, 22-24.

The 4th quarter started out well for the Patriots with a four yard drive, ending with a 49 yard field goal by Gostkowski.  They then immediately gave up a fourth field goal to Akers and the Eagles, and spent the remainder of the game staving off the offense of the Eagles, eventually running out the clock and winning the game, 27-25.