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Brady sits, but Pats whip Jags in preseason opener

Aug 12, 2011 - 5:01 AM Foxboro, MA (Sports Network) - Rookie Stevan Ridley ran for a pair of touchdowns and caught a Ryan Mallett pass for another score, and the New England Patriots began the preseason with a 47-12 triumph over the new-look Jacksonville Jaguars.

Five months after a lockout began, it was back to game action, but not for Tom Brady. The Patriots starting quarterback dressed for the game, but instead yielded to Brian Hoyer. The second-string QB completed 15-of-21 passes for 171 yards, including an 11-yard score to Taylor Price in the second quarter.

Also not taking the field for the Patriots were their two main offseason additions in wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth.

Mallett, a third-round pick this year out of Arkansas, went 12-of-19 for 164 yards.

"I think both guys did a good job," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said of his quarterbacks. "They moved the ball, we scored some points so it was good. There were plenty of mistakes, things to work on but there were some positives."

Ridley, a third-round draft pick out of LSU, rushed 16 times for 64 yards and caught seven balls for 47 more for the Patriots, who are coming off an NFL- best 14-2 mark last season. They lost to the New York Jets in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Richard Medlin, another first-year running back, scored on a pair of fourth quarter runs in the win.

Rookie Blaine Gabbert, a 10th overall pick out of Missouri, started for the Jaguars and completed 9-of-16 passes for 85 yards. He led the Jags to three first-half scoring drives, all resulting in field goals.

Todd Bouman connected on 2-of-10 passes for the Jaguars, who came in at 8-8 last season, their third consecutive year missing the playoffs.

"Probably the biggest concern is, we aren't going to play our backend people that much again this preseason," Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said. "So, that is more of a relief than a concern, because that was pretty ugly out there at the end. We're just getting our football team ready. We are going to have a good team this year. I am very confident of that."

It took a bit for the Patriots to get rolling offensively. On the first play, Hoyer connected with tight end Aaron Hernandez, who fumbled the ball away at the New England 26.

"We really got off to a slow start obviously," Belichick added. "Plenty of things we need to work on. We looked at a lot of people tonight, a lot of young players. That was kind of the idea, get them in there and let them play and play against some better people at the beginning of the game so we'll get a good evaluation of that when we look at the film [Friday] and really see how everybody did. Overall, it looked like players competed pretty hard and make some plays."

Sam Swank connected on a 40-yard field goal for a 6-0 Jacksonville lead, but Ridley plunged in from a yard out with 1 1/2 minutes left in the opening quarter to put the Pats on top for good.

Price made a nice catch at the back of the end zone, but the Patriots never executed the extra point try.

Stephen Gostkowski kicked a pair of first-half field goals, including a 43- yarder on the final play, to give New England a 19-9 advantage at the break.

Mallett led the Patriots on a 13-play, 82-yard drive to star the third, finished off by a Ridley one-yard run. Mallett found Ridley for a 16-yard TD pass later in the quarter.

This is the most points the Patriots have ever scored in a preseason contest. The previous best was a 45-7 win vs. Washington on September 4, 1977.