After deflating summer, Patriots set to celebrate NFL title

Tom Brady will start at quarterback on Thursday night, when the New England Patriots raise their fourth Super Bowl banner before the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After they were penalized for illegally videotaping opponents in 2007, they ran off a perfect record in the regular season before losing in the Super Bowl to blow their chance at the NFL’s first 19-0 season.

Even with the injuries that have cost him almost an entire season, he his 54 touchdown catches are the most for a tight end over the past five seasons.

THE FUTURE: Even before the whole deflated footballs mess raised the possibility of Brady missing one-quarter of the season, the Patriots were grooming Garoppolo to replace him.

This year in the exhibition season, he led the Patriots to victories in two of their first three games, completing 61 of 90 passes for 554 yards and two touchdowns.

SUPER BOWL HERO: The Patriots may have found themselves a defensive backfield star in Malcolm Butler, who intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line at the end of the Super Bowl to clinch New England’s 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

But coach Bill Belichick wouldn’t commit to using a traditional fullback, saying he could use a tight end in the backfield and potentially use an offensive lineman to fill in at tight end.