Patriots sign Testaverde

FOXBOROUGH, Mass – Vinny Testaverde, who came out of retirement last season to help out the New York Jets, was signed Tuesday by New England.

The move came after the Patriots lost two straight for the first time since 2002 as Tom Brady played two of his poorest games. Until signing Testaverde, New England had only one other quarterback on its roster, second-year pro Matt Cassel.

Testaverde, who turned 43 Monday, was the first overall pick by Tampa Bay in the 1987 draft. He has played 19 NFL seasons and has 269 touchdown passes, eighth in NFL history, and is sixth with 45,252 yards passing.

Brady has been listed as probable on the injury report every week for last season and this season, but hasn’t missed a game.

On Monday, after a 17-14 loss to the New York Jets dropped the Patriots to 6-3, coach Bill Belichick was asked if Brady’s throwing shoulder, the reason he’s been on the list, affected him.

“I think he’s been able to play in every game, so you’d have to ask him that,” Belichick said of Brady, who only meets Wednesdays with reporters. “There probably isn’t a player in the league that plays every week that’s 100 percent today. He’s probably in that category.”

Asked if Brady has seemed hampered in his performance, Belichick said, “I think that Tom has had good days, good weeks of practice. I just think overall, we collectively as a team – coaches, players, everybody – we just have to do a better job. I think we all feel that way. That includes everybody.”

In Testaverde, joining his sixth NFL team, the Patriots get a player whose experience is at the opposite extreme of Cassel.

The Patriots drafted Cassel in the seventh round in 2005 after he threw just 33 passes at Southern California as the backup to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.