Receiver Josh Gordon made his return to action in Thursday

[liny195]

night’s preseason finale. It now remains to be seen whether his conditional reinstatement becomes the full-blown ability to suit up for the Patriots in 10 days , when New England raises banner No. 6 and embarks on its pursuit of a record-setting seventh Super Bowl win against the only other team with six, the Steelers.Via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, the home crowd greeted Gordon with cheers as he caught two passes for 30 yards and drew a 35-yard interference penalty on six total targets.Gordon’s reinstatement to the NFL after his latest substance-abuse policy suspension came with conditions, but the league did not specify the terms that would allow him to return fully and completely for the regular-season opener.He last played against the Steelers in Week 15 of the 2018 regular season. Traded to the Patriots by the Browns in September of 2018, Gordon started 11 games for New England last year , catching 40 passes for 720 yards and three touchdowns before abosrbing his latest suspension. He received a Super Bowl ring earlier this year for his role in the Patriots’ latest championship.Gordon provides the Patriots with a potent weapon and a trusted target for quarterback Tom Brady, who has fostered Gordon during an offseason that included ample uncertainty regarding whether and when he’d return. Gordon has little or no margin for error when it comes to drug testing and treatment; although the NFL seemingly has shown far more lenience with players who have had chronic struggles with compliance, the specter of another suspension will continuously hover over Gordon.Still only 28 years old, Gordon’s has shown massive talent during his NFL career. In 2013, he gained 1 ,646 yards in 14 games with a quarterback-challenged Browns team. It’s the 14th highest single-season yardage output in league history, more than Hall of Famers Randy Moss and Terrell Owens ever had in any one season. ATLANTA (AP) — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have arrived. So have Jared Goff and the Los Angeles Rams.Now it’s time for them to get to work.The teams landed in Atlanta on Sunday and will practice this week before squaring off in the Super Bowl next Sunday in the NFL’s main event.The AFC champion Patriots had a rally at Gillette Stadium earlier in the day before heading to the airport and boarding their flight.“We’re not at the end yet,” Brady told the fans in Foxborough, Massachusetts. “We’ve got one more to go.”It’s New England’s third straight Super Bowl trip and fourth in five years — and the ninth overall in the Brady-Bill Belichick era.The Patriots, who beat the then-St. Louis Rams for their first title after the 2001 season , are looking to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for the sixth time, which would tie the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most in the Super Bowl era.The NFC champion Rams are back in the city where they won their only Super Bowl title in the 1999 season, when they beat Tennessee.During the team’s pre-flight rally at the construction site where the Rams’ multibillion-dollar stadium is rising in Inglewood, California, fans chanted “Greg! The! Leg!” for kicker Greg Zuerlein , who made a 57-yard field goal in overtime to beat New Orleans in the NFC title game.Zuerlein strained his non-kicking foot at halftime of that game by slipping on a turf-covered metal plate during warmups on the Superdome field. The injury doesn’t appear to be serious, and the Rams expect him to kick in the Super Bowl, coach Sean McVay said Thursday.The Rams are making their first appearance since losing the game in 2002 that launched the Patriots dynasty.The previous time a Los Angeles-based Rams team was in the Super Bowl was in the 1979 season, where they lost to the Steelers.