FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This isn’t exactly breaking news, but never count out Tom Brady.
Victories don’t get much grittier than the one Brady and the patchwork Patriots somehow managed to steal from the stunned Saints in Gillette Stadium Sunday afternoon.
Already besieged by injuries coming in, New England lost four more key starters before the fourth quarter even started — and yet still emerged 30-27 winners after Brady hit rookie receiver Kenbrell Thompkins with a 17-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left.
Not even the Patriots’ own fans seemed to have faith before Brady’s latest miracle improved his bruised-and-battered team to 5-1. Gillette Stadium was barely half-full after a 34-yard Drew Brees TD pass to rookie wideout Kenny Stills, and a Garrett Hartley field goal in the final 3:29 had rallied New Orleans to a 27-23 lead.
But the Saints gave Brady one too many chances by turning uncharacteristically conservative in the final moments, and it proved fatal to New Orleans’ unbeaten start.
“I was proud of the way we hung in there and never stopped fighting,” Brady said after producing the 28th fourth-quarter comeback of his magnificent career. “That was great situational football, and a great win, against a really good team.”
Taking over at his own 30 with 1:13 left after the Saints could only take a minute off the clock on the previous possession, Brady marched the Patriots to the New Orleans 26 with consecutive completions to Julian Edelman, Austin Collie and Aaron Dobson.
Two incompletions set up fourth down, but Brady found the newly signed Collie once more for nine yards to convert. Brady then connected with Thompkins — an undrafted free agent — over a leaping Jabari Greer in the left corner of the end zone.
“You can’t give Tom Brady and that offense three chances at a two-minute drill,” said Brees, who was a pedestrian 17-of-36 for 236 yards and two TDs with one interception as New Orleans fell to 5-1. “You rack your brain for something you could have done different, but we didn’t put ourselves in position to run the clock down.”
It would be tempting to label it a pyrrhic victory for the Patriots after star cornerback Aqib Talib (hip), wideout Danny Amendola (concussion), guard Dan Connolly (concussion) and linebacker Jerod Mayo (arm) all departed the game early, but Brady & Co. have faced extreme adversity all season and still stand atop the AFC East.
Even so, this was by far the most impressive — and at times inexplicable — gut-check performance by Bill Belichick’s team all season.
“Sorry you had to rewrite those stories at the end,” Belichick said, flashing a rare bit of humor. “That game took about five years off my life.”
Belichick had reason to be proud, though, because the depleted Patriots outlasted a Saints team that came in on a roll, and not just on offense, with Brees and seemingly unstoppable tight end Jimmy Graham. New Orleans’ defense also was on fire under new coordinator Rob Ryan, having not allowed more than 18 points in any game during a 5-0 start.
But the Patriots threw a blanket over Graham, first with Talib and then with a host of defenders after the cornerback exited in the third quarter.
Graham came in having tied the NFL record with four consecutive 100-yard receiving games but was held without a catch (on six targets) by Belichick’s defense Sunday before leaving with a leg injury in the fourth quarter.
The Patriots could relate to Graham’s physical pain. With the Patriots unsure when tight end Rob Gronkowski will come back and star nose tackle Vince Wilfork gone for the year, the four new injuries Sunday meant they could travel to the Jets this weekend more shorthanded than they’ve ever been in the Brady era.
But as No. 12 showed yet again Sunday, shorthanded doesn’t guarantee the Patriots will come up short in the end.