Brady, Gronkowski lead Patriots to 28-21 win over Steelers

Superstar quarterback Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes to his tight ends three to favorite target Rob Gronkowski to lead the defendingchampion New England Patriots to a 2821 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening game of the new NFL season.

A party atmosphere reigned at Gillete Stadium outside Boston here Thursday night despite a light, steady rain, as the Patriots’ fans celebrated their team’s successful start to 20152016 and also the unveiling of its fourth Super Bowl banner.

They were also overjoyed that Brady, whose fourgame suspension in connection with a supposed scheme to deflate footballs during last season’s AFC Championship Game was recently nullified by a judge, was on the field to lead the Patriots’ offense.

Brady had expressed relief that the ordeal was behind him in a Facebook post last week.

“While I am pleased to be eligible to play, I am sorry our league had to endure this. I don’t think it has been good for our sport to a large degree, we have all lost,” he wrote.

After a scoreless first quarter, the star quarterback led the Patriots on scoring drives of 72 yards and 64 yards in the second quarter, both of which ended with touchdown passes to Gronkowski.

Then in the fourth quarter, Brady and Gronkowski connected on a 52yard pass play before the tight end recovered a fumble by teammate Dion Lewis at the one yard line.

Three plays later, Brady, who completed 25 passes for 288 yards, found his AllPro tight end in the end zone for a 1yard touchdown pass.

The Patriots’ other touchdown came on a oneyard pass from Brady to tight end Scott Chandler in the third quarter, a play that capped off an 80yard drive at the start of the second half.

With the win, the 38yearold Brady set an NFL record for starting quarterbacks with 161 victories for a single franchise. He also established a new Patriots record by completing 19 consecutive passes and moved into a tie for third place alltime with 23 games with four or more touchdown passes.

Gronkowski caught five passes for 94 yards.

The Steelers’ defense was unable to contain the Patriots’ highpowered offense, but Antonio Brown caught nine passes for 133 yards and scored a touchdown with time running down in the fourth quarter and running back DeAngelo Williams rushed for 127 yards on 21 carries.

Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, completed 26 of 38 pass attempts for 351 yards, threw for one touchdown and was intercepted once.