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Heck, at this rate, even Peyton Manning’s all-time passing touchdown record doesn’t really seem safe anymore.
After Saturday night’s complete, thorough, and utterly evil-laugh-worthy demolition of the Tennessee Titans on both sides of the ball, Tom Brady broke a postseason tie with...no, not Peyton Manning. Brady was deadlocked with Joe Cool himself, Joe Montana, for a very specific playoff record: most games with 3 or more passing touchdowns.
Montana has 9, including his 5-touchdown Super Bowl master class against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. Brady also had 9 playoff games of 3 or more pass touchdowns, including his cold-blooded murder of TebowMania in 2012.
Key word, “had”.
Brady spread the ball all over the field to the tune of 53 passing attempts, 337 yards, and 35 completions to seven different receivers, and three of his old pals found the end zone for scores - Chris Hogan, Rob Gronkowski, and James “Just here to do whatever you guys need me to do” White.
(Yes, I’m well aware that James White’s real nickname is “Sweet Feet”, but given that he’s happily assumed a role behind Dion Lewis and still came through in his first playoff action since the Super Bowl, where he was also pretty good, he deserves credit for staying on the edge of his seat even if he’d more or less been reassigned to third-down duty again.)
With that, Tom Brady moves into sole possession of yet another NFL postseason record - he’s already had Montana (and everyone else) smoked for a while for most postseason passing touchdowns of all time - and former Patriot/current Titans cornerback Logan Ryan knows exactly why.
From SI:
“The points count in the game,” Ryan said. “When he’s scoring touchdowns in practice they don’t count. But he got going man. He got in his rhythm. It wasn’t just one guy who played bad defensively. It wasn’t the scheme. He continued to attack, continued to attack. It’s what he does well. He executed as well as I’ve seen him.”
“There were some good battles in there. He got me a couple times, I got him some. It’s the game within the game. He’s a great Hall-of-Famer. The GOAT,” Ryan said. “I firmly believe that because of the work he puts in. I know that. He came out there and he loves the big stage.”
“Number 12,” Ryan said. “Number 12 got going.”
One more thing to stash this away for trivia night, too: guess which game Tom Brady scored the most postseason touchdowns in besides that Denver game in 2012?
It was against the Seattle Seahawks, on February 1st, 2015, where he threw for four touchdowns and 328 yards...and he still almost lost.