As has been his habit through the years, New England Patriots great
Tom Brady punctuated a particularly satisfying play by punching his fist
in the air. This bit of gesticulation came on the final play of the
third quarter Monday night against the big, burly Houston Texans, a team
that had cut a swath through the AFC to this point.
Tom Brady, who last week welcomed the birth of his third child, was more
like Juan Manuel Marquez landing the perfect punch on Manny Pacquiao on
Saturday night. In fact, the Patriots (10-3) landed punch after punch
against Houston as they walked away with a 42-14 win.
This is the kind of game that makes you wonder if
Houston will be able to pick itself off the canvas. As impressive as
Houston had generally been in piling up what is now an 11-2 record and
control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC, there is an issue plaguing the
Texans that's as open and obvious as Pacquiao's unguarded face at the
moment Marquez struck.
The Texans can't defend the pass, especially when the passer is of Tom
Brady's ilk. In three games against Brady, Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay
(another team that put up 42 on Houston) and Denver's Peyton Manning,
the Texans have gotten lit up like a Christmas tree. They have allowed
12 touchdown passes and gotten zero interceptions in those three
contests, two resulting in losses. In this game, Brady finished 21 of 35
for 296 yards and four TDs. Earlier this season, Rodgers was 24-of-37
for 338 yards and six TDs in a 42-24 win.
Mass. – The stage was bright, the opponent tough, but the conclusion nearly forgone.
Tom
Brady escaped the pocket anyway, abandoning his protection for an
awkward third-down sprint of 6 yards at the end of the third quarter,
with his New England Patriots already up 28-7 over the Houston Texans.
New England would win 42-14 on Monday night.
Brady wanted to make
a point, no matter the score, and he fired up a spoiled home crowd with
an emphatic fist pump, eliciting chants of "M-V-P."
Robert Klemko, USA TODAY SportsShare
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2:49AM EST December 11. 2012 - FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The stage was bright, the opponent tough, but the conclusion nearly forgone.
Tom
Brady escaped the pocket anyway, abandoning his protection for an
awkward third-down sprint of 6 yards at the end of the third quarter,
with his New England Patriots already up 28-7 over the Houston Texans.
New England would win 42-14 on Monday night.
Brady wanted to make
a point, no matter the score, and he fired up a spoiled home crowd with
an emphatic fist pump, eliciting chants of "M-V-P." BOX SCORE: Patriots 42, Texans 14
"I
don't run too often, so I've got to show them that I can still do it a
little bit," Brady said. "I was pretty fired up at that point. That was a
big moment in the game."
And who is it that Brady is putting on notice?
"The
opposing defenses that say I can't run and won't move out of the
pocket," he said. "At least there's a little bit of a threat there. Not a
big threat; I'm not like RGIII there or anything, but I can make a
first down."
Soon after Brady earned a first down by a yard,
taking a hit in the process, he was pulled for backup Ryan Mallett. No
point in keeping the 35-year-old Brady on the field during a blowout,
even if the opposing Texans brought a league-best 11-1 record into the
game.
From the jump, those 11 wins didn't help the Texans at
Gillette Stadium. The Patriots (10-3) scored on their first three
possessions, including two touchdown passes to Hernandez, his first
scores in almost two months. Brady wound up with 296 yards on 21 of 35
passing for four touchdowns with no interceptions.
The win marked
the 10th season Brady has led the Patriots to at least 10 wins, and the
scoring outburst puts New England on pace to finish eight points shy of
the NFL record 589 they scored in 2007.
The first glimpse at Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen’s brand new baby
daughter, Vivian Lake, appeared on Bundchen’s Facebook page Friday. But what really got people talking is the fact the newborn was
delivered not in a hospital, but rather, in the comfort of the couple’s
Boston home on Wednesday.
“We feel so lucky to have been able to experience the miracle of
birth once again and are forever grateful for the opportunity to be the
parents of another little angel,” Bundchen, 32, posted on her Facebook page following the birth. “Vivian Lake was born at home on December 5. She is healthy and full of life.”
Tom Brady spoke to ESPN’s Mike Tirico about the birth of his new daughter, the first girl born to the couple.
“I grew up in a house with three sisters so I think it’s great for my
boys to have a girl in the house, just to understand a little bit of
what makes a woman tick,” Brady said. “She’s a beautiful little girl.”
Little Vivian’s birth wasn’t the first at-home delivery for Brady and
Bundchen. Their son, Benjamin, was also born at home in the family’s
bathtub, something the supermodel described as a “natural” experience in
the documentary “Business of Being Born.”
“My job as a mom that I felt at that moment was just to breathe,
relax and allow my body and trust my body to do what it knows, naturally
knows what to do,” Bundchen said.
While doctors say only about one percent of births now happen at
home, more and more couples are choosing to forgo the hospital, in part
because of celebrity influence.
“It looks like it’s starting to be more popular,” said ABC News
medical contributor Dr. Jacques Moritz. “Celebrities, Gisele, Ricki Lake
and others like her, Cindy Crawford are making this more popular.”
This is the kind of game that makes you wonder if
Houston will be able to pick itself off the canvas. As impressive as
Houston had generally been in piling up what is now an 11-2 record and
control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC, there is an issue plaguing the
Texans that's as open and obvious as Pacquiao's unguarded face at the
moment Marquez struck.
