Tom Brady put the “Deflategate” saga behind him, throwing four touchdowns as the New England Patriots began the defense of their championship with a 28-21 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Super Bowl champions opened the new NFL season in style on Thursday, and superstar quarterback Brady — who spent the off-season battling to overturn a four-game suspension — had all his weapons working in his first game since his ban was struck down.
The 38-year-old shredded the Steelers’ defense, completing a franchise-record 19 consecutive passes.
Photo: AP
He went 25-of-32 for 288 yards and threw four touchdowns, including three to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who finished with five catches for 94 yards.
“It was a pretty special night, so I was excited,” Brady said.
“Our whole team was excited. We haven’t had one of these games for a long time,” he said.
Photo: EPA
The Patriots also unveiled their championship banner during a pre-game ceremony in front of a crowd of 68,800 at the Gillette Stadium.
Not even a light rain could spoil the party as New England owner Robert Kraft brought out the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the hip hop anthem All I do is Win.
Brady led the players onto the field to a huge ovation from the Patriot fans. He then walked over to the sidelines, where he handed a new game ball to center David Andrews.
Photo: AFP
Brady’s four-game suspension was quashed on Thursday last week by a US judge, who ruled that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had delivered his own brand of “industrial justice” in finding that Brady played a role in the deflating of footballs below the legal limit for last season’s American Football Conference championship contest.
Brady, who is coming off winning his third Super Bowl MVP, denied any involvement in a conspiracy to tamper with the balls and the judge ruled that Goodell went beyond the probe conclusions of lawyer Ted Wells.
Goodell normally attends the NFL season opener, but decided against traveling to New England.
It was probably a wise move, as the crowd mocked Goodell in the fourth quarter by chanting: “Where is Roger?”
Brady set a record with his 161st win with the same team, surpassing Brett Favre, who has 160 with the Green Bay Packers.
Gronkowski was full of praise for his quarterback.
“He was unbelievable,” he said.
“He is our leader. He is a great player and it is fun to play with him,” Gronkowski said.
“Everything he’s been going through all off-season, he just came out and he was on fire,’’ Gronkowski said. “I don’t know his stats or anything, but he was hitting all of the open guys, reading the defense well, calling the right plays.’
Brady hit Scott Chandler for a 1-yard score to cap an 80-yard march with the second-half kick-off. Only occasionally did the Steelers come close to clamping down on Brady, yielding 361 yards overall.
Third-stringer Lewis rushed for 69 yards, and leading receiver Julian Edelman had 11 catches for 97 yards.
“We’ve got to finish a few instances better,’’ Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said.
“I thought we got a little frazzled at times. Some of the young people have got to get better in a hurry,” he added.
Without two key players on offense — running back Le’Veon Bell (suspended) and center Maurkice Pouncey (injured) — and without suspended receiver Martavis Bryant, Pittsburgh moved the ball decently, gaining 464 yards, but they never really was close.
SSC Napoli will have to wait one more week to seal the Serie A title after on Sunday being held to a goalless draw at Parma, while closest rivals Inter drew 2-2 in a dramatic game with SS Lazio. Antonio Conte’s team stayed one point ahead of Inter and were unfortunate not to win after twice striking the woodwork through Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Matteo Politano, while Scott McTominay also had a free-kick tipped onto the crossbar. The away side thought they would be handed a chance to take the points from the penalty spot in the 96th minute when David Neres
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Omar Marmoush’s stunning long-range strike on Tuesday upstaged Kevin de Bruyne on the Manchester City great’s Etihad farewell. Marmoush let fly from about 30m to put City ahead in their 3-1 win against AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League. The victory moved Pep Guardiola’s team up to third in the standings and left qualification for the UEFA Champions League in their own hands heading into the last round of the season. “It’s really important. To be in the Champions League after what happened [this season] will be really nice,” the City manager said. De Bruyne was making his final home appearance for City before
RSS