New England quarterback Tom Brady celebrates the first of two touchdown passes to Benjamin Watson against Buffalo late in the fourth quarter Monday in Foxborough, Mass. Brady led the Patriots to a 25-23, come-from-behind victory over the Bills.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — If there's one lesson to be learned from Tom Brady's return to the NFL, it's a simple one: the New England Patriots are never out of contention with their star quarterback on the field.

That message came through above the din of more than 68,000 fans at Gillette Stadium Monday night when Brady threw two touchdown passes to Benjamin Watson in the final minutes for a shocking 25-23 victory over the Buffalo Bills.

Not that Brady and the boys were doubting they'd win their 12th straight against Buffalo in his return to the lineup after missing all but one quarter of last season with torn knee ligaments.

"We have a real competitive locker room, a real competitive team," Brady said. "When you're in a situation like we were, it's when you really have to step it up. It takes every guy on the field to step it up. Hopefully, we will continue to do that."

Nobody stepped up more than Brady, who was mediocre for much of the game, only to live up to the advance billing when the spotlight was its most intense.

"(Brady said) `We're going to win, we need two touchdowns,"' Watson explained of the quarterback's demeanor with Buffalo ahead 24-13. "Tom's the best at it."

A year after the injury, Brady resembled a rusty game manager more than the invincible record-setting quarterback who guided the Patriots to a perfect 2007 regular season. And then he became Tom Terrific again with 18- and 16-yard TD throws to Watson on similar routes.

"I felt good all night, we were just off," Brady said. "The plays we needed to make — fourth downs we missed, third downs we missed, two chances in the red area, the interception — those things really get you behind the 8-ball. We recovered with just a few seconds left. Sometimes it happens like that.

"It's a pretty special victory."

Chargers 24, Raiders 20At Oakland, Calif., Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers opened the season doing what they do best: beating the Oakland Raiders.Rivers answered a pair of go-ahead scored by Oakland by leading two touchdown drives, capped by Darren Sproles 5-yard run with 18 seconds left, that gave the Chargers their 12th straight victory in this one-sided rivalry Monday night.