Versatile Morris stands and delivers

FOXBOROUGH - After missing the final 13 games last season, Sammy Morris picked up where he left off in the Patriots' 2008 opener by leading the rushing attack in yesterday's 17-10 triumph over the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium.

Morris piled up a team-high 53 yards on 10 carries and figured prominently in both New England touchdown drives. He also caught five passes for 34 yards.

Unfortunately, all anyone wanted to talk to him about after the game was his blocking.

Such is the line of questioning when it's your assignment that threatens the season of Tom Brady. The questions came despite the fact that Morris did just about all he could to block Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard in blitz pickup during the first-quarter play in which Brady was knocked out of the game.

Morris took the surging Pollard to the ground on first contact. But Pollard popped up and dove into the left leg of Brady as the quarterback followed through on a completion to Randy Moss, sidelining the quarterback for the game and potentially longer.

So Morris, who helped pick up the Patriots in Brady's absence, stood at his locker and calmly answered question after question about the play and whether it was a dirty hit.

"The rules don't allow you to hold someone on the ground," said Morris. "He dove from the ground . . . It's part of the game."

Fortunately, Morris didn't want to talk much about himself, anyhow.

When the questions finally shifted to his performance, he promptly shoveled the praise everywhere but on himself.

Morris did his part with a game-long 22-yard run as part of a 10-play, 98-yard scoring drive on backup Matt Cassel's first series that culminated in a 10-yard touchdown pass to Moss.

Morris, who eased the absence of third-down back Kevin Faulk (one-game suspension) with his play in the passing game, found the end zone in the third quarter with a 5-yard run capping New England's first possession of the second half.

Morris also carried four times during the Patriots' final scoring drive, culminating in a 37-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 2:26 remaining.

"It meant a lot to me [to contribute]," said Morris, who led the Patriots in rushing through six games last year before suffering a season-ending injury (sternum-clavicle separation) against Dallas.

"To get out there and play with the guys, it's been a long time coming," he said. "I'm real excited about that."

Chris Forsberg can be reached at cforsberg@boston.com. For a video interview with Sammy Morris, visit Boston.com/sports.