Finally. The day every Patriots fan had been waiting for: Tom Brady has returned. For 30 long days, he was banned from participating in any team activities as punishment for his part in the “Deflategate” scandal. This past Sunday, October 9, Brady took his first regular season snap since January against the winless Browns in Cleveland. Expectations were already high for Brady coming into the game; as one AFC defensive assistant coach told Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report, “Thanks to Roger Goodell, Tom Brady is going to kill us all.”

Despite some worries that he would have some rust, Brady came out of the gates firing as he led an 80-yard TD drive on his first possession of the game. Later in the first quarter, Brady threw his first touchdown pass, a seven-yarder to Martellus Bennett. If you didn’t know the game was in Cleveland, you would’ve thought you were in New England based on the crowd’s reaction to Brady’s performance, as he was cheered by plenty of fans throughout the game. He was on point all game, finishing with 3 touchdown passes, over 400 passing yards and no interceptions, which led to a 33-13 victory to give the Patriots a overall 4-1 win-loss record on the season.

While everyone in New England wished Brady had played the first four games, the duo of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett managed to lead the Patriots to a 3-1 record and gave Brady plenty of breathing room to battle for the number one playoff seed for the rest of the season. Bill Belichick deserves a lot credit for the 3-1 record, as he was able to cover up the young quarterbacks’ deficiencies and set them up for success. The Pats and Brady look to stay on a roll next week as he makes his return home against the Cincinnati Bengals.