Sam Bradford earns first win as a starter
Sam Bradford, the top pick in this year's draft, made the most of his first NFL start on Thursday night, defeating the New England Patriots 36-35 at Gillette Stadium. St. Louis Rams starter A.J. Feeley injured his thumb in last week’s 19-17 win over the Cleveland Browns, which propelled Bradford to the starting role.
Bradford, the former Oklahoma star and Heisman Trophy winner, wanted to have a strong showing and prove to his teammates that he can play and lead the Rams in the 2010 season. The rookie can check that off his list. Bradford appeared relaxed and prepared in playing the first half, completing 15-for-22 for 189 yards and two touchdowns after struggling as a backup in his first two pre-season games.
“Tonight was the first time I had fun,” Bradford said. “I had fun doing what I’m used to doing, which is moving the offence up and down the field and scoring points. Anytime you can do that, it’s a blast.”
Bradford directed a 72-yard scoring drive which was capped with a 5-yard touchdown toss, for his first in the NFL. It was particularly special because the touchdown throw came against the New England Patriots’ first-team defence.
"He was putting the ball on the money," Rams running-back Steven Jackson said. "You can tell he really knows the offence. I'm really impressed with how far he's come in a short time."
Backup quarterback Keith Null also impressed by driving his team into New England territory to set up a 37-yard field goal by Josh Brown on the final play of the game, to improve St. Louis pre-season record to 2-1.
Tom Brady was on point and gave Patriots fans something to cheer about as we near the regular season. He threw touchdown passes on three straight drives and went 18-of-22 passes for 273 yards.
Aside from Brady’s strong outing, the Patriots (2-1) lost a close battle to a team that is mediocre at best. New England was expecting to come in at Gillette Stadium and handle the Rams with ease. But that didn’t happen and despite scoring 35 points, head coach Bill Belichick was not pleased with his team’s performance.
"We didn't do well on anything," said Belichick. St. Louis led in time of possession, 43:46 to 16:14, and in offensive yards, 462-288.
“They were able to move the ball at will," safety James Sanders said. "It was demoralizing." The Patriots will score points this season, no question about that, but they must strengthen their defence, to make a deep post-season run.
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