Tom Brady calls a play in the first quarter of Thursday's preseason game.

Journal photo / Michael Perez

PHILADELPHIA - It’s over, and he survived.

Tom Brady took part in his first game action in nearly a year on Thursday night, starting the New England Patriots’ preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The quarterback, he of the world’s most heavily monitored left knee, stepped onto the field at 6:33 p.m. for pregame warmups, trotting onto the Lincoln Financial Field turf with his quarterback compatriots.

Brady played 24 snaps over four series, completing 10-of-15 passes for an even 100 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. While he wasn’t perfect, it was certainly a good stepping-off point for the 2007 NFL MVP as he tries to return to his pre-knee injury form.

New England won the game, 27-25.

But while it was nice for the Pats to start off the preseason with a victory –– however meaningless in the grand scheme of things, considering that the Detroit Lions were 4-0 during their exhibition schedule last year, only to post the NFL’s first winless season –– the real story for New England was Brady.

He received good protection, was not sacked and even picked up three yards on a quarterback sneak on third-and-1 in the second quarter, on his final series.

Looking dapper as always in his postgame press conference, Brady seemed glad to have the first game behind him.

“A preseason game doesn’t have quite the same feel as a regular-season game. [But] it’s a good first test for us,” he said. “We’re on a mission this year.”

Bill Belichick lumped Brady in with the rest of the Patriots players when asked about the quarterback’s play.

“There was probably –– you can say this about ever play –– there were some positive things and then there were probably some things that we needed sharpen up on in camp. That’s true for everyone, including Tom.”

The Patriots ran that final possession with Brady at the helm as a hurry-up, and it ended with the second touchdown of the night to tight end Chris Baker.

The former Jet, signed in the offseason to a five-year free-agent deal, and Brady had some early hiccups. In one camp practice, Brady looked to Baker in the end zone twice, and both times something was off.

But as they walked off the field that morning, Brady stopped Baker, grabbed a ball, and showed him how to run the route and what he’s looking for. Clearly that work –– plus any other time they spent together –– paid off.

After going four-and-out on their first possession, when Brady’s third-down pass for Joey Galloway was broken up by Sheldon Brown, the offense settled down a bit on its second drive.

A 13-yard pass to Randy Moss over the middle was followed by a deep attempt to Moss, with former Patriot Asante Samuel in coverage. Samuel grabbed Moss on the left arm, and the resulting pass-interference flag advanced the ball 46 yards, to the New England 18.

With a fresh set of downs in the red zone, Brady handed off to Laurence Maroney (6 carries, 14 yards) for a four-yard gain, then found Julian Edelman for five yards. On third-and-one, Maroney picked up four yards, stopped by former teammate Ellis Hobbs.

Two plays later, Baker, on the left end of the offensive line, went the few yards into the end zone and broke left, all alone to receive Brady’s touchdown pass.

“I was pretty excited –– I didn’t get into the end zone at all last year,"”Baker said, adding that his tutoring sessions with Brady have helped a great deal. “We’ve only been together for 19, 20 practices so far. It takes time to develop that chemistry. [But] he gets everybody on the same page with him.”

The third drive, however, didn’t end so well. After a third-down conversion to Baker, Brady looked to Moss about 40 yards downfield. But either the ball was short or Moss outran the pass, and corner Sheldon Brown hauled in the interception.

Moss finished with three catches for 54 yards, while surprising rookie Julian Edelman had four receptions for 24 yards, pulling in Brady’s first pass of the game.

Andrew Walter took over under center once Brady’s night was done; Walter was still on the field with 12 minutes left to play on the game, leading to questions about second-year man Kevin O’Connell’s status.

O’Connell, assumed to be Brady’s primary backup when camp began, has struggled in recent days, and Bill Belichick said this week that Walter, signed on Aug. 3, is getting more and more confident in the huddle as he learns the New England playbook.

But asked after the game why Walter played so long, Belichick noted that it was because the Patriots had not yet seen him play in game conditions.

Defensively, New England got good pressure on Philadelphia starting quarterback Donovan McNabb, though three out of the five Eagles offensive line starters did not play due to various injuries.

Late in the third quarter, rookie Darius Butler prevented a possible –– and dreaded in preseason –– overtime scenario, intercepting third-string quarterback A.J. Feeley on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game.

smanza@projo.com