If I told you that Tom Brady would leave the game due to injury in the first quarter, would you honestly have expected this to have been the result? Nah, me neither.

Yeah, the Pats got the win, but the big story in this one was Brady's early exit. Tom Terrific took a helmet to the knee in the first quarter as Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard crawled and tripped his way into the 2007 NFL MVP's lower half. Brady went down instantly and didn't take another snap. Not only is the third-longest consecutive start streak among active quarterbacks at stake, but so, very well, is the Patriots' 2008-09 season. While it was encouraging to see Matt Cassel take the reins and do a good job, it's highly unlikely that the Pats would stand a true chance of advancing through several playoff rounds without No. 12 under center. Anyway, here are a few notes and observations from the game that was:

Cassel was solid against the Chiefs... Who isn't?
Matty Backup finished with 152 yards passing and a TD on 13-for-18 passing, including a 50-yard strike to Randy Moss that sparked a 98-yard scoring drive. He filled in admirably and performed better than we could have expected, but do you think he'd be able to do that for 4 quarters against defense like the Chargers, Broncos, Colts, Steelers, Seahawks and Raiders? If nothing else, it was cool seeing him deke the shit out of Pat Thomas to pick up the first down on a run in the fourth.

Lining up for a pass-crazy offense again this year...
Belichick gave the backs just 24 total carries with Maroney and Morris getting 10 apiece. A lot of their season-long game plan will depend on who's taking the snaps at quarterback, but if the first game's any indication, it looks like it'll be more of the same continuing from last year.

Offensive fumbles were somewhat troubling.
Moss and Welker had a fumble apiece in the first quarter. The 157 combined receiving yards and Moss' touchdown, however, suggest they're in midseason form. I'll chalk the give-aways up to the fact that it was the first game.

In spite of giving up a couple big plays, the defense looked solid.
James Sanders overshot his coverage on a 68-yard Devard Darling reception at the end of the fourth and Larry Johnson had a 22-yard run, but other than that the defense looked pretty impressive (but then again, who wouldn't against Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard?), especially during their fourth quarter stand that kept the Chiefs out of the end zone and ultimately won the game. They totaled 84 tackles and 4 sacks with Mike Vrabel accounting for half of the latter. Most impressive was the fact that they held the always dangerous LJ to a 3.4 YPC average.

Second Quarter
TD (11:45) - Matt Cassel 10-yard pass to Randy Moss, PAT good
Third Quarter
TD (3:01) - Sammy Morris 5-yard run, PAT good
Fourth Quarter
FG (2:26) - Stephen Gostkowski 37-yarder