Regular Season Game #1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Total

Kansas City

0

3

0

7

10

New England

0

7

7

3

17

Injury to Brady Overshadows Patriots' Victory

Regular Season Game #1

NFL.com l Video Highlights

Chiefs WR Devard Darling is chased by the Patriots' Brandon Meriweather.

Sept. 7- Tom Brady limped off the field under the worried stares of Patriots fans. The thing they feared most finally happened -- losing the NFL's reigning MVP to injury.

And the team they love more than any other plummeted from an exclamation point of an unbeaten 2007 regular season to a huge question mark in 2008 after it held on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 17-10 Sunday.

Brady hurt his left knee when tackled by safety Bernard Pollard midway through the first quarter. He went to the locker room and didn't return. Matt Cassel, who had thrown only 39 passes as Brady's backup the past three seasons, took over.

And he did surprisingly well, completing 13 of 18 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown after failing to lead the Patriots to a touchdown in 17 possessions during four exhibition games.

But New England needed solid defense at the end to keep the lead.

Damon Huard, playing after Chiefs quarterback Brodie Croyle left with a shoulder contusion late in the third quarter, completed a 68-yard pass to Devard Darling to the Patriots 5 with 53 seconds left. But they moved no further with two incompletions, a run for no gain by Larry Johnson and a poorly aimed pass toward Dwayne Bowe that sailed to the ground wide of the end zone on fourth down.

Brady hurt his right foot and missed the four exhibition games, all losses. In Sunday's season opener, he was 7-for-11 for 76 yards.

Last season, the two-time Super Bowl MVP set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes, but it ended in disappointment with the Super Bowl loss that left the Patriots at 18-1.

For the first time in 57 games, Brady wasn't listed on the Patriots' injury report coming into Sunday's game. Now his streak of 128 consecutive starts, third longest in NFL history, may be in jeopardy.

With the game scoreless, Brady was hurt when Brandon Flowers hit him low on the left leg as the quarterback heaved a 28-yard completion to Randy Moss. But Moss fumbled the ball away and Brady clutched his knee.

After a few minutes, he was helped off the field.

Cassel was very impressive on his first possession, starting at his 2. With a third down at the 1, he threw a 51-yard completion to Moss. Eight plays later, they hooked up for a 10-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

It was Moss' 126th touchdown, tying Jim Brown for eighth most overall, and 125th on a reception, tying him for fourth in NFL history.

The Chiefs cut the lead to 7-3 on a 40-yard field goal by Nick Novak with 17 seconds left in the half.

Cassel then led another impressive drive, covering 80 yards in which he completed all four passes. Sammy Morris ended it with a 5-yard scoring run for a 14-3 lead.

Moments later, Croyle walked to his locker room with his injury. Huard, the backup in Brady's first three seasons as a starter from 2001-2003, came in.

On his first series, Huard threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe, making it 14-10. Stephen Gostkowski added a 37-yard field goal for the Patriots with 2:26 left.

Individual Statistics

Kansas City Passing:

Damon Huard 8 of 12 for 118 yards, 1 touchdown & 1 interception

Brodie Croyle 11 of 19 for 88 yards

New England Passing:

Matt Cassel 13 of 18 for 152 yards and 1 touchdown

Tom Brady 7 of 11 for 76 yards

Kansas City Rushing:

Larry Johnson 22 carries for 74 yards

Jamaal Charles 5 carries for 28 yards

New England Rushing:

Sammy Morris 10 carries for 53 yards and 1 touchdown

Laurence Maroney 10 carries for 51 yards

Matt Cassel 4 carries for 13 yards

LaMont Jordan 2 carries for 6 yards

Heath Evans 2 carries for 3 yards

Kansas City Receiving:

Devard Darling 1 reception for 68 yards

Tony Gonzalez 6 receptions for 55 yards

Dwayne Bowe 5 receptions for 49 yards and 1 touchdown

Larry Johnson 1 reception for 12 yards

Jeff Webb 2 receptions for 10 yards

Jamaal Charles 2 receptions for 6 yards

Mike Cox 2 receptions for 6 yards

New England Receiving:

Randy Moss 6 receptions for 116 yards and 1 touchdown

Wes Welker 6 receptions for 51 yards

Sammy Morris 5 receptions for 34 yards

David Thomas 2 receptions for 24 yards

Kelley Washington 1 reception for 3 yards

Kansas City Tackles-Assists-Sacks:

Patrick Surtain 6-0-0, Brandon Flowers 5-1-0, Jarrad Page 5-2-0, Pat Thomas 5-2-0, Turk McBride 4-1-0, Bernard Pollard 4-1-0, Tamba Hali 3-3-0, Derrick Johnson 3-1-1, Alfonso Boone 2-0-1, Brandon Carr 2-1-0, Donnie Edwards 2-0-0, Tank Tyler 2-1-0, Demorrio Williams 2-0-0, Glenn Dorsey 0-2-0, Adrian Jones 0-1-0, Jon McGraw 0-1-0

New England Tackles-Assists-Sacks:

Rodney Harrison 7-7-0, Jerod Mayo 6-0-0, Vince Wilfork 5-1-0, Adalius Thomas 4-0-1, Mike Vrabel 4-2-2, Ellis Hobbs 3-0-1, Brandon Meriweather 3-2-0, Deltha O'Neal 3-0-0, James Sanders 3-0-0, Tedy Bruschi 2-10-0, Lewis Sanders 2-1-0, Richard Seymour 2-1-0, Ty Warren 2-2-0, Jarvis Green 1-0-0, Mike Wright 1-0-0

Kansas City Fumble Recoveries:

Jarrad Page 1 for 8 yards

Brandon Carr 1 for 0 yards

New England Fumble Recoveries:

None

Kansas City Interceptions:

None

New England Interceptions:

Ellis Hobbs 1 for 3 yards

Coast to Coast Tickets
Choose your NFL game tickets at CTS for hot NFL events such as Kansas City Chiefs football tickets, Denver Broncos tickets, Oakland Raiders tickets and San Diego Chargers tickets. We also carry Kansas City Royals tickets, NCAA football tickets, golf tickets and concert tickets.
AllianceTickets.com
Looking for Sports Tickets? AllianceTickets.com is your source for all your Denver Broncos Tickets and Seattle Seahawks Tickets needs. They also have a great selection of Colorado Rockies Tickets and Seattle Mariners Tickets available at discounted prices.
Football Schedule
Football Schedule is your source for the latest Chiefs Schedule information as well as keeping up with division rivals including Raiders Schedule, Chargers Schedule and Broncos Schedule.