Despite Brady Injury, New England Holds Off Kansas City

Foxborough, MA (AHN) - It was a nail-biter at Gillette Stadium for the Pats opener, but heavily favored New England held off the Kansas City Chiefs 17-10 Sunday.

Even the most loyal Pats fan had to be thrown into a little doubt over their first quarter performance.

A combination of mishaps and a key injury to Tom Brady's left knee caused what should have been rout to be a rather close contest.

Two turnovers, one off a rare Randy Moss fumble, gave the Chiefs an opportunity to put points on the board.

However, K.C. was unable to capitalize on the miscues.

Brady went out shortly after, for the rest of the game, after Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard fell on his leg.

One of the most highly doubted decisions made by Pats Coach Bill Belichick was his decision to keep Cassel as the backup quarterback, after a very lackluster preseason.

There were serious doubts as to whether Cassel would be able to perform as well as his competition, Matt Gutierrez.

However, when the performances were comparable, experience and seniority favored Cassel, who has trained with quarterbacks like Carson Palmer and Brady.

Doubts were quickly turned to cheers as Cassel completed a 54 yard pass to Moss in his first set of downs, while riding his own 1 and a half yard line.

The drive ended in Cassel's first touchdown pass - a high wobbler to Moss for the seven.

After Kansas City made it a 7-3 game with a Nick Novak 40 yard field goal, Patriots 31-year-old veteran running back Sammy Morris was able to power the ball in, as the Patriots scored their second touchdown.

In the second, Kansas City quarterback Brody Croyle went out with a shoulder injury, sending in the Chiefs backup Damon Huard to level the playing field a bit.

Even though the Pats have won 35 games in a row that they led at the half, this game was not squared away by any means until the last minute.

The Chiefs didn't threaten to return until Huard slotted a touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe with 13:06 left to play.

The Chiefs had sprinted the ball down to the Patriots 5 yard line, seven points down.

However, they were just unable to get the required touchdown, missing it in four attempts as the Patriots put pressure on the wide-outs.

The considerable force of Mike Vrabal, Teddy Bruschi and Vince Wilfork kept Huard under constant pressure.

Both teams hope their starting quarterbacks will be fit to return next week.

The Patriots will want to see Brady back next week, as they will be taking on the experienced arm of Brett Favre and the Jets in New York.