The Top 20 Patriots Moments of 2018: Number 9

Now that we’re into the Top 10 Most Memorable Patriots Moments of 2018, it’s time to get serious. Everything from here on out is what we refer to in the business as a Pretty Big Deal.

What business, you ask? Good question. I have no idea what I’m saying right now.

The list so far:

20. Danny Etling gets half of the Giants fired with an 86 yard touchdown run.
19. The Patriots demolish the Jets at home to secure a playoff bye.
18. Julian Edelman bounces off a Bill and into the end zone on a 4th down conversion.
17. Some punt team acrobatics keep the Steelers from getting a touchback.
16. Gronk magic returns with a 34 yard touchdown seam route catch against the New York Jets.
15. James Develin finds the end zone twice against the Minnesota Vikings.
14. The New England Patriots trade for Josh Gordon.
13. A Julian Edelman screen pass and an epic Tom Brady fakeout secures a primetime win on Sunday Night Football over the Green Bay Packers.
12. The Patriots right the ship with a Week 4 blowout of the Miami Dolphins.
11. Special teams lead the way for a decisive road victory over the Chicago Bears.
10. Tom Brady avoids the sack on 3rd and goal and dives headfirst into the end zone to take the lead against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Every once in a while, a seemingly throwaway play ends up being a major milestone, and that’s exactly what’s going on here with our Number 9 Moment.

9. Tom Brady becomes the all time passing yards leader in a win over the New York Jets.

A late season win against the Jets has become something of a regular occurrence around here, and November 25, 2018 wasn’t much different. The Patriots were fresh off a shocking loss to the Titans and a bye, whereas the Jets were also coming out of their bye on the heels of a 41-10 beatdown at the hands of the Bills. Their season was in danger of going off the rails completely, and with the Pats coming to town, it was looking bleak.

And bleak it was, because the Patriots handled the Jets pretty easily, despite New York taking an early lead. I already recapped the game more thoroughly in my breakdown of the Number 16 Moment, so there’s no need to get too deeply into it again, but in the midst of that 27-13 Patriots win was a 133 yard performance from Sony Michel and a 283 yard passing day for Tom Brady; both solid numbers, but neither are enough to make something like a end of season countdown list. However, with those 283 yards, Tom Brady surpassed Peyton Manning’s number of 79,279 to become the all-time passing yards leader. Nobody, in the entire history of the NFL, has thrown for more yards combined.

You wouldn’t notice it if you didn’t see it yourself, because coverage of the record was sparse. They didn’t stop the game. Nobody came over the jumbotron to congratulate Tommy B on yet another milestone. In fact, there is so little out there on this event that good luck finding the actual play that broke the record; you aren’t likely to find it anywhere.

If I were both smarter and a legitimate sports journalist, I would do the necessary math to figure out exactly which play it was that broke the record by seeing how many yards Tommy B had prior, adding up each throw for this game, and coming to a logical conclusion. But I’m neither smart nor a legit journalist, and so I’ll just say that I think it was a quick out pass to Sony Michel for eight yards in the third quarter that put him over the top. If you’re of a certain mind, feel free to leave some more detail in the comments and I’ll come back and give you the proper credit.

Tommy B currently has 81,693 total passing yards, with more on the way.

If you think that this article is a little sparse for such an impressive achievement, you’d be correct; however, unlike the majority of the time when the short articles I write are the result of me seeing something shiny and wandering off, I didn’t write all that much on Brady’s day because there really isn’t much out there recapping the win beyond the standard postgame coverage. Save for a few articles here and there, the world moved on immediately following this game. Just another record for Brady. Ho hum. He now holds 54 of them, for the record, with several more well within reach.

Nobody else might care, but we do here at Pats Pulpit. Whenever a player sets a record or reaches a milestone, it always makes the countdown, and one as important as becoming the all-time yards leader for sure makes it into the Top 10.

Full game highlights here.

Spoiler alert: next on the countdown will be another record, of sorts, now held by Tom Brady.