New England Patriots 2011 regular season Review: The search for the fourth ring continues – NFL Special Part IV
Continued from part III
At Philadelphia
Coming on the back of two straight wins, New England looked unstoppable and it was Philadelphia’s turn next to face Brady’s magic.
The Patriots quarterback continued from where he left off and showed no mercy as the Eagles defence could just stand and watch as Brady passed them to defeat.
Brady combined brilliantly twice with wide receiver Wes Welker and sent a final touchdown pass to his favourite weapon Rob Gronkowski to end the game with three touchdowns and a total of 361-yards passing.
The Eagles who were missing regular quarterback Michael Vick to injury had to settle for backup Vince Young.
The 28-year-old quarterback however, could not keep pace with a dominant Brady and passed for just a single touchdown as the Eagles lost 38-20.
With three wins in the bag, the Patriots were well on their way to another playoff berth this season.
Against Indianapolis
With Peyton Manning in the Colts line up the matchup between New England and Indianapolis always turned up some of the National Football League’s classic encounters.
This time though the Colts were missing their star quarterback due to a long-term neck injury and their form this season showed how much they missed Manning.
Indianapolis, were without a single win in twelve games and that statistic was not going to change with a visit to the Gillette Stadium.
Brady and the Patriots ramped up a huge 31-3 lead by the end of the third quarter as the quarterback passed for two touchdowns and a total of 289-yards.
However, they let their foot of the gas in the third period as Indianapolis to the shock of the home crowd mounted an improbable comeback effort.
The Colts scored three touchdowns in the final 15-minutes but New England’s lead was too big for them to overcome.
The Patriots ran out 31-24 winners but problems with the defence were really brought into focus by the Colts late bid for a comeback.
At Washington
No one expected a visit to the struggling Washington Red Skins side will give many problems to a dominant Patriots team.
Yet surprise surprise!
Washington played a huge game and really took the fight to New England and could even have sent the game to overtime if not for a few officiating mistakes and the brilliance of the Patriots offence.
The game was neck and neck till the final minutes as both teams played out a classic game of football.
Washington tied the scores with just seven minutes left in the final period as quarterback Rex Grossman connected on a six-yard pass to David Anderson in the end-zone.
They were however, facing Tom Brady and the Patriots quarterback drove his team forward to setup the game winning touchdown with just four minutes left.
The three time Super Bowl winner sent an accurate 24-yard pass to receiver Wes Welker to gain a 34-27 lead.
It could have all turned out different as on the next play Brady turned over the ball and that event led to a big shouting match between the quarterback and offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien.
Luckily for New England their defence stopped the drive and secured another win for the Patriots.
To be continued
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