Tom Brady has another career day as the New England Patriots rout the New York Jets

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

In quite an opposite showing from their first meeting this season, the New England Patriots defeated the New York Jets 31 to 14 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.  While New England quarterback Tom Brady had a great game, breaking the 3,000-yard mark for the seventh season in his career to tie Drew Bledsoe's franchise record, the Patriots defense came up big to secure the win.

The Patriots' defense got the first score of the game as Leigh Bodden returned an intercepted pass from Mark Sanchez of the Jets for the touchdown.  Brady connected with Randy Moss on a short pass to close out the first quarter with New England up 14-0.

While it was Brady's only score in the game, he was key in leading the team down the field for two additional touchdowns, both run in by Laurence Maroney, and a field goal.  Brady connected on 28 of 41 passes for 310 yards and a passer rating of 98.6.

Many of those passes went to Wes Welker, who caught 15 for 192 yards, the most receptions in a single game of his career.  Brady spoke about Welker, who was absent when the teams played in week two, during his post-game press conference, stating, "He's a great player and he's working the middle of that field and when the coverage goes to Randy [Moss], Wes has some opportunities."

Brady added that is was nice to bounce back after the stunning loss to the Indianapolis Colts one week earlier, calling it "tough to get over the emotional drain" but "a good win for us."

Looking forward to next week, when the Patriots travel to play the undefeated New Orleans Saints, Brady told the press, "Coach always says the season starts after Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving's Thursday, so we've got six regular season games left. The Saints are going to be - Coach said probably the toughest opponent we face this year, right there with the Colts. So I'm glad we're playing this kind of football."

While the Saints are dealing with injuries to star players like Reggie Bush and Sedrick Ellis, they are still looking strong, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 to 7 this week. 

The Pats and the Saints will kickoff at 8:30 p.m. EST on November 30, 2009, on Monday Night Football.  The Tom Brady Examiner will be on hand at the Superdome in New Orleans for complete coverage of the game.