When it comes to Patriots’ Brady, it’s all business, wins

As best as anyone could tell, it turned out that Tom Brady didn’t need any additional inspiration from Greg Hardy’s mouth or any other source.

Brady didn’t stay around long to chat after the New England Patriots’ 30-6 victory on Sunday, probably anticipating the usual peppering that comes his way in cities away from Boston.

He’s the source of interest on a number of topics from his alleged preference of air pressure, to dubious court opinions and this week comments made by Hardy on the beauty of Brady’s model wife and her sister.

Tom Brady is all business, a curious case indeed of an NFL veteran who instead of declining seems to only get better with age while leading the Patriots to a 4-0 start with the help of a new weapon.

Brady, along with the usual suspects of Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski and journeyman newcomer Dion Lewis, came out of their first-half slumber with some adjustments, outscoring the Cowboys 17-3.

Brady, who matched a career high by being sacked five times in the first 30 minutes, finished with 275 yards on 20-of-27 passing and two touchdowns, including the demoralizer, a 59-yarder to a wide-open Edelman, who broke several tackles on the way to the end zone to secure a 27-6 lead with 12:58 left in the game.

“I think they gave us a few different fronts, a few different coverages,” Brady said. “They came in with an approach and I thought we settled in.”

Of significance to the Patriots’ offense through the first four games has been the emergence of Lewis, a fourth-year running back out of Pittsburgh. Lewis is a hard-nosed runner who can catch the ball out of the backfield. He had eight catches for 59 yards and a touchdown against Dallas.

It has been difficult to keep track of all the moving pieces over the course of the Patriots’ 16-year run of triumph, but Lewis appears to be the newest.

Lewis was 11 years old when the Brady-Bill Belechick Era won the first of four Super Bowls.

The Patriots are his third team since entering the league in 2011. He’s the prototype of player Belichick seems to locate, a guy with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

“Everybody has a different path,” Lewis said. “My path was a little harder. I think it was God testing me to see how bad I really wanted it. I’m trying to get better every week. I’ve still got work to do.”

Brady’s path, of course, wasn’t smoothly paved, a sixth-round pick who had something to prove. Today, he gets the Elvis treatment, everybody, except him, with opinions about his personal life and what Hardy said.

Brady’s business is his business of football.

On Sunday, he played his 213th career game, the most in New England franchise history and all of them more memorable than the 212 Bruce Armstrong played in from 1987-2000.

“That was a big win for us,” Brady said. “Going on the road is never easy. They obviously gave us some trick plays, but we got by with the win.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 9:06 PM with the headline "When it comes to Patriots’ Brady, it’s all business, wins."