Brady gets boost from rest of Patriots' roster in win over Falcons

FOXBOROIUGH — Wait, so Tom Brady doesn’t have to do everything?

OK, so that’s something of an overgeneralization. But over the first six games of the 2017 season, as the quarterback lifted his teammates time and again on the way to a 4-2 record, Brady was the guy. Whether it was spurring them forward with an emotional outburst, some late-game heroics or simply four quarters of outstanding football, the fortunes of the Patriots rose and fell on his strong right shoulder.

But on Sunday night against the Falcons, that really wasn’t the case. Brady went 21-for-29 for 249 yards and a pair of touchdown passes, one to James White and another to Brandin Cooks. For Brady, it was good, but instead of heaping praise on the quarterback for this one, Sunday should be remembered as a total team effort, maybe the most impressive of the year for New England. In the end, the 23-7 win the result of true complementary football: a good performance from the New England defense, some excellent special teams play, and a running game that was able to average 4.5 yards per carry.

It all added up to a classic team win for the Patriots, who moved to 5-2 on the year.



“We had a very, very productive week,” said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. “I thought the players were well prepared, ready to go and played hard for 60 minutes in all three phases of the game. We had a lot of contributions from everybody. We played good complementary football. It wasn’t always perfect, but we played hard and we competed for 60 minutes, and that was off of a real good week of work.”

After the game, Brady was all too happy to praise the work of those around him, including the New England defense, which held the Falcons to just 2-for-9 on third down and came within four-plus minutes of pitching a shutout, all without cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore (concussion) and Eric Rowe (groin).

“They made so many big plays. That was really a night of big plays for them,” Brady said of the defense. “So many guys were rushing the quarterback and covering those receivers. Those guys are very talented, and Matt (Ryan) had to squeeze a bunch of throws in there.

“I thought everyone was really focused and everyone did a great job of really honing in on what we needed to do,” he added. “(We were) playing a team that’s very talented on all sides of the ball – explosive playmakers – and we did a good job of taking care of it and getting it off them. The fourth down stops were basically turnovers. The D kept making plays and we kept going out there and chipping away. You know, we didn’t score as many touchdowns as we’d like, but we scored enough. It was a great team win.”

The running game? That group accounted for 162 yards on 36 carries.

“We ran the ball really well … really efficiently,” Brady added. “Guys ran hard and we really needed it. It was great to hand it off and see those guys rush the way they did.”

And then, there was the special teams performance from Stephen Gostkowski (who nailed four field goals) and defensive lineman Cassius Marsh (who added a blocked field-goal attempt).

In the end, the quarterback didn’t have to be perfect to beat the Falcons. But on Sunday, the performance from most of the rest of the roster made it that much easier.

“I thought Bill said it best this week. He said it was about time we played complementary football for four quarters,” said veteran safety Devin McCourty. “He said at times, we played really well on offense. At times, we played really well on defense. At times, we played really well on special teams, but we hadn’t gotten it all together. I thought tonight we did a good job of that (on Sunday).”