FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Down three points. Barely two minutes left. One thought on Tom Brady’s mind.
“You can’t not get the ball in the end zone,” the master of late comebacks said.
That’s where Brady got it, throwing an 8-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez with 22 seconds left and giving the New England Patriots a 20-16 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
“He’s probably one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever seen, especially from a quarterback standpoint,” said Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork. “There was plenty of time for our offense. When it mattered the most, they came up with what we needed.”
The victory came against a solid defense — ranked fourth in the NFL — that had allowed just one touchdown on the Patriots’ first nine possessions.
“When you’re playing against a quarterback like Tom Brady, he’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “So you have to try to make it hard on him.”
Dallas, coming off a bye week, did that for most of the game, sacking Brady three times and intercepting two passes. But on the final 80-yard drive that started with 2:31 left, Brady completed 8-of-9 passes for 78 yards.
New England (5-1) won despite its first two lost fumbles of the season. Brady finished the game 27-of-41 passing for 289 yards and two touchdowns.
Dallas fell to 2-3.
