FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots were deader than the quiet and sweltering Gillette Stadium crowd late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Week 3 matchup with the Houston Texans.
The Patriots’ defense couldn’t get off the field, and the offense couldn’t pick up a third-and-1 to save its life.
Then Tom Brady happened.
The Patriots took the ball at their own 25-yard line down 33-28 with 2:24 left in the game and drove down the field in 2:01 to win 36-33. Brady hit wide receiver Brandin Cooks on consecutive throws for a touchdown and two-point conversion. The touchdown was a 25-yarder. The two-point conversion was a 2-yarder.
Here are your stars of the game.
QB TOM BRADY
Well, there’s nothing wrong with the Patriots’ offense.
Brady went 25-of-35 for 378 yards with five touchdowns against the vaunted Texans’ defense. And that was all while getting beat up for five sacks and eight total quarterback hits.
Brady continues to rely heavily on the deep ball. He was 9-of-13 on deep passes for 263 yards with three touchdowns.
WR BRANDIN COOKS
There were some whispers about Brady and Cooks’ chemistry and connection after the first two weeks of the season. Cooks responded with five catches on seven targets for 131 yards with two touchdowns and an incompletion.
WR CHRIS HOGAN
Hogan always seemed to be wide open, finding massive holes in the Texans’ defense. He caught four passes on six targets for 68 yards with two touchdowns.
TE ROB GRONKOWSKI
The speculation whether Gronkowski still is himself should be dead after the last two weeks. He caught eight passes on 10 targets for 89 yards with a touchdown. He’s on pace for almost 1,200 yards.
DE TREY FLOWERS
There weren’t many defensive standouts on the Patriots on Sunday afternoon, but Flowers had five tackles, a sack and two quarterback hits. He also seemed to be battling through an undisclosed injury.
Flowers now has three sacks on the season as he lives up to the hype he built up over the second half of last season and the summer.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
