Brady, who was playing in his first game since undergoing season-ending knee surgery last fall, threw for 100 yards and two touchdowns while completing 10-of-15 pass attempts.
"[Tom Brady] got a decent number of plays in there — we wanted to get
him a two-minute drive and we did that," head coach Bill Belichick said following the win. "There was probably some
positive things and there were things we need to sharpen up on — it
was the first game — it was true for everybody including Tom."
Brady, who was picked off once, hit tight end Chris Baker in the end zone twice before being removed from the contest at halftime. Also lighting up the scoreboard in the first half was rookie seventh-round pick Julian Edelman, who returned a punt 75 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter to put the Pats up 14-3.
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski knocked home a pair of field goals as the Patriots were able to stave off a late-game charge by the Philly offense. Randy Moss led the Pats receivers with 54 yards on three catches while Sammy Morris paved the way for the running game with 45 yards on 12 carries.
"It was good to come down here and win. Philadelphia is a good football team. They certainly handled us last year and I was happy to see we could at least be competitive this year," said Belichick.
A.J. Feeley led the Eagles offense with 211 yards on 18 completions to go with one touchdown pass. Running back Eldra Buckley had a pair of touchdowns — one rushing, one receiving — in addition to 79 all-purpose yards.
