Patriots send their message

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- After nearly seven months of virtual silence, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady finally spoke on Deflategate just a few days after federal Judge Richard Berman rescinded the quarterback's four-game suspension last week.

But Brady delivered what was perhaps his first real statement Thursday night. After a pregame ceremony celebrating their Super Bowl XLIX championship, the Patriots beat the Steelers, 28-21, in the NFL's season opener.

"Yeah, it was a pretty special night," Brady said. "I was excited. Our whole team was excited. We haven't had one of these games in a long time, so it's always fun being out there and getting the opportunity to go play. And we took advantage of it.

"Good win. I thought our guys played hard. Obviously, there were a lot of things we could do better, so we're going to get back to work. "

It was nothing flashy from Brady. No trash talking. No football spiking -- not by the quarterback, anyway. Just a typical Brady performance in the clutch -- clean, precise, methodical, dominant.

Brady was 25-of-32 in pass attempts for 288 yards with four touchdowns and a 143.8 rating. It was his 23rd career game in which he threw four or more touchdown passes. He now has 161 career regular-season wins with the Pats, surpassing Brett Favre with Green Bay for most wins by a QB with one team. He tied Drew Brees for fifth place for most career touchdown passes with 396. With four more he will become just the fourth to reach 400, joining Peyton Manning (530), Favre (508) and Dan Marino (420).

"I worked out with [Brady] a lot this offseason and he's the same old guy," said wide receiver Julian Edelman, Brady's favorite target last season. "It just shows you how mentally tough he really is to be dealing with what he's dealt with in the past and to be able to come out here and lead us. He's always a firecracker.

"There's one thing about him: Tom never has a down day. It's good to have a leader like that. When you come into work and you're not feeling the greatest, but you see '12' over there -- he's been here 30 years pretty much -- coming out here, practicing his tail off, preparing, watching film, all those things. That's why he's so good."

The Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger, by comparison, was 26-of-38 for 351 yards with one touchdown and a 95.4 rating. Not bad, just not good enough. Pittsburgh's futility was perhaps best summed up in a fourth-quarter drive when it went 67 yards, holding onto the ball for 7 minutes, 36 seconds, getting down to the 1-yard line and settling for a field goal.

"Yeah, you know there were a couple of situations [where] we got down to the 1 and we had some … we had a false start on one, and one we didn't get in. So it is frustrating," Roethlisberger said. "We have to go back and figure out why. Is it something they did or is it something we did?"

But Brady also proved he's human -- somewhat. He had an incompletion in the fourth quarter, snapping a string of 19 consecutive completions, a new franchise record.

Bill Belichick, the always-reticent Patriots head coach, was asked after the game about Brady's performance and if he had thought the events of the past seven months would affect his quarterback. His reply:

"The 28 points is good. Were there plays that could have been better? We could have coached better, we could have played better -- there are things we could have all done better, so there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. We'll take the production that we had, and it's good to be 1-0, good to score 28 points. We left some plays out there on the field. We just have to do a better job of coaching and playing and keep getting better each week."

You were expecting enlightenment?

But if Brady delivered a message, titanic tight end Rob Gronkowski delivered a manifesto. After not playing in any of the Pats' preseason games as a precaution, Gronkowski plowed through the Steelers defense seemingly at will.

Gronk, who said he is not yet in "top-notch shape" for the season, recorded New England's first two touchdowns and three of four in the game on passes from Brady, matching his career high for TD receptions in a game for the third time. Gronkowski extended his streak of regular-season games with a touchdown reception to four -- two shy of his career high -- and seven overall, including the postseason. He has scored a touchdown in all five season openers he's played. His 52-yard reception in the fourth quarter matched his career long.

"I mean, we made a statement that we won the game," Gronkowski said. "That's all that matters is that we went out there and won the game with a team win.

"We just go into games every time just prepared to the best of our ability, just going out to practice and bring it out [to] the game field, so we're just motivated by just paying the game of football because we like playing the game. I love playing it, just love going out there competing and just having fun out there."

The Steelers had a game plan for Gronkowski, but …

"It wasn't successful," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. "He's a really talented player, particularly in situational ball. He delivered for them big tonight. I don't want to take anything away from him and his efforts."

"Gronk is who he is," said Steelers safety Robert Golden. "We knew that going into this game. We knew Gronk was going to do what he does, and we knew Brady was going to do what he does. Our goal was to come in and compete and they out-executed us. So we have just got to get better."

But Gronk wasn't Brady's only target.

Edelman posted his sixth regular-season game with at least 10 catches, with a total of 11 for 97 yards.

Newcomer Scott Chandler -- the other half of the Patriots' towering tight end twins with Gronkowski -- scored his first touchdown with the Pats in the third quarter on a 1-yard pass from Brady.

"We wanted to get the win," Chandler said. "We wanted to get off to a good start this season and we accomplished that tonight. [But] I think that when we look at the tape there's probably going to be a lot of room for improvement and hopefully we can just continue to get better."

But, apparently, it wouldn't be a Patriots game without some level of subterfuge -- perceived or actual. Early in the game, the Steelers coaches had a snafu with their headsets. Spygate, Deflategate and now … Headsetgate?

"That's always the case," Tomlin said after the game about the communication issue.

At Gillette Stadium?

"Yes," said Tomlin, who didn't elaborate when asked if it happened at other stadiums.

"We were listening to the Patriots' radio broadcast for the majority of the first half on our [coach-to-coach] headsets."

Belichick said his staff had issues with their headsets also.

"We had a lot of problems," Belichick said. "We had to switch headphones a couple times. The communication system wasn't very good. We deal with that, it seems like weekly. Yeah, they told us they were on the verge of shutting it off, but then they I guess got it working. I don't know, but it was a problem the whole game. We almost had to switch helmets with Brady there at the end -- couldn't get the plays into him. It was a problem all night."

After the game, the NFL issued a statement from Michael Signora, vice president of football communications:

"In the first quarter of tonight's game, the Pittsburgh coaches experienced interference in their headsets caused by a stadium power infrastructure issue, which was exacerbated by the inclement weather. The coaches' communications equipment, including the headsets, is provided by the NFL for both clubs use on game day. Once the power issue was addressed, the equipment functioned properly with no additional issues."

Just as there were no issues for the Patriots. Not on this night.

* * * Maureen Mullen is the sports editor of the Daily Item in Lynn, Mass. She is also the author of Diary of a Red Sox Season, 2007 with the legendary Johnny Pesky, and Yogi Was Up with a Guy on Third, conversations with 53 of the 64 living Hall of Famers.

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