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Patriots hold off Chiefs but lose Brady

Sep 8, 2008 - 3:19 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- With Tom Brady knocked out of the game in the first quarter with a left knee injury, Matt Cassel - with some help from Randy Moss - made good on the chance to prove he could lead the New England Patriots.

Moss caught a 10-yard touchdown pass and had 101 of his 116 receiving yards in the first quarter as the Patriots fought off the Kansas City Chiefs, 17-10, Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

"When Tom got hurt, every time the fans cheered I looked around like a little kid at a candy store hoping No. 12 would make it back up those (locker room) stairs," Moss said. "Matt Cassel had a (heckuva) game and hopefully he can pick up where he left off."

The injury-marred win was the 20th straight in the regular season for the Patriots, who needed to stop the Chiefs four times at the 5-yard line inside the final minute to preserve the victory.

Brady, the reigning league MVP, will have an MRI exam on his knee Monday, but according to a number of published reports, he suffered major ligament damage and his season is over.

"I don't have any update on Tom," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "They are looking at him and doing some tests on him, so we will see how that turns out. But I don't have any information on him."

Yahoo! Sports and WEEI.com in Boston, each citing sources, reported that Brady suffered torn ligaments in the knee.

New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre also said in his postgame conference on Sunday that he he heard of Brady's injury.

"I think it hurts," Moss said. "By him being the face of the New England Patriots and Tom being who he is, it hurts to be honest with you. I know the show must go on and hopefully, Matt Cassel is ready to step in.

From a team standpoint, we are ready to embrace him and let him lead us."

The Chiefs also lost their starting signal-caller when Adalius Thomas sacked Brodie Croyle midway through the third quarter. Croyle will undergo an MRI exam Monday.

"Brodie Croyle has a separated shoulder right now, so we'll see the extent of it once we do the MRI," Chiefs head coach Herm Edwards said.

Brady went down grabbing his left knee when he was hit by Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard while throwing a pass with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter.

"Things happen but I can't do anything but send my prayers out to him," Pollard said. "He's a competitor and tough guy. As soon as I heard him scream, I knew something wrong. That's something you don't want to see happen to another competitor."

The reigning league Most Valuable Player, who set an NFL record with 50 touchdowns last season, hobbled off the field and went to the locker room.

Cassel, with just 73 yards passing in his previous three seasons, entered the game after the Chiefs had pinned the Patriots at their own 2-yard line with a coffin-corner punt.

After two runs into the middle of the line lost a yard, Cassel hit Moss for a 51-yard pass, beating cornerback Patrick Surtain. Then on 3rd-and-eight from the Chiefs 10, Cassel found Moss in the back of the end zone for his third career touchdown pass - and first since 2005.

"This is something I've been preparing for for a long time," Cassel said. "It's not something we expected to come up on opening day. It went out there, I got a lot of reps during the preseason and that ended up being pretty fortunate."

Cassel finished 13-of-18 for 152 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice but did not turn the ball over.

"It was good," Belichick said of Cassel's performance. "It could have been better, but I thought he handled the team well and made some accurate throws. I thought that was a big play coming off the goal line. He hit Moss. That was right in front of me. I got a good look at that one. I thought overall he threw the ball pretty well."

The Chiefs got on the board on Nick Novak's 40-yard field goal just before halftime.

Cassel led the Patriots on another scoring drive in the third quarter, which was capped off by Sammy Morris' 5-yard scoring run up the middle to make it 14-3 with 3:01 left.

"They did some good things with him," Edwards said of Cassel. "I thought their run game really helped. When they ran the ball, they became two-headed and that was tough."

Thomas sacked Croyle late in the third quarter, knocking him from the game with the injury to his throwing shoulder.

Damon Huard led the Chiefs on a 10-play, 63-yard drive, finishing it with a 13-yard touchdown strike over the middle to Dwayne Bowe, cutting the deficit to 14-10 with 13:06 left in the game.

Ellis Hobbs appeared to seal the victory when he intercepted a Huard pass intended for Bowe with 7:21 remaining in the fourth and the Patriots protecting a four-point lead. That led to Stephen Gostkowski's 37-yard field goal.

But Huard connected with Devard Darling on 68-yard slant over the middle to give the Chiefs 1st-and-goal at the Patriots 5 with 57 seconds remaining. However, the Patriots held as Huard fired three incompletions and a run into the line yield no gain.

"We had some opportunities in the first half to capitalize on field position and points but we didn't quite get it done offensively," Edwards said.