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It’s the Friday before Fourth of July Weekend! We’re all getting ready to head down to the beach and party stay home and watch fireworks on TV in a few days, and as with most Summer Fridays, we’re all basically just killing time until Cocktail O’Clock. So let’s continue counting down our Top 20 Most Memorable Patriots Moments of 2019.
he list so far:
20. The Patriots draft N’Keal Harry.
19. The Patriots trade for Mohammed Sanu.
18. Josh Gordon breaks three tackles to score the first Patriots touchdown of the 2019 season.
17. The kicker carousel.
16. A Kyle van Noy scoop and score ices the game against the New York Giants.
15. The refs screw the Pats out of not one, but two touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs.
14. The Patriots play the Jets twice - and the defense shuts them out twice.
13. The Patriots force four interceptions as they dominate the Cincinnati Bengals and secure a playoff spot.
12. Julian Edelman hits Philip Dorsett in the end zone to help lift the Patriots over the Eagles.
11. N’Keal Harry scores his first NFL touchdown with a back shoulder grab against the Dallas Cowboys.
10. The Patriots force three turnovers on three straight plays against the Cleveland Browns.
At Number 9, yet another step up on the ladder of greatness.
9. Tom Brady becomes the 2nd All-Time passing yards leader in a Week 6 win over the New York Giants.
Tom Brady entered into a Week 6 showdown with the New York Giants with 71,923 career passing yards in the regular season, which put him at third on the All-Time list. He had passed Brett Favre the week before in a convincing victory against the Washington Redskins, and was just 18 yards away from eclipsing his good buddy and regular season dynamo Peyton Manning. Barring injury or the absolute worst performance by any quarterback in history, ever, Brady was going to be 2nd All-Time as soon as the final whistle blew.
Brady needed exactly forty seconds to take that spot, as on the second play of the game, Brady hit Sony Michel for a 19 yard gain and the record. Ironically, that 19 yard play was more or less the most exciting part of that contest, as the Patriots spanked the Giants to the tune of 35-14 and never trailed at any point. Brady threw for 315 more yards that day, along with a touchdown, to improve the only record that has ever mattered to Brady - wins and losses - to 6-0 on the day.
But with that pass, Brady put yet another tick mark on the most impressive NFL resume the world has ever seen. Did he make it to Number One? No; that record is currently held by another Hall of Famer, Drew Brees. But that’s OK, you can’t have it all.
Yet.
Brees currently has 77,416 passing yards, and at 41, he’s still going strong. Who knows how much longer Brees will keep playing, but as long as he’s under center, he has a stranglehold on that record. Brady is currently about 3,000 yards short of Brees at 74,571 career passing yards, which he’ll be adding to this year down in Tampa. The only way that Brady will ever have a realistic shot at eclipsing Brees to take the one spot for this particular record is if Brees retires within the next few years and Brady plays another season. If that happens, and Brady plays at a relatively high level, I...
I was going to say that I’ll be making another entry in my Top 20 countdown in the future, but I won’t. Brady will set that record as a Buccaneer. Dammit.
On the plus side, Tommy B has set all of the following records as a Patriot:
- Most games won by a quarterback: 219
- Most games 2+ touchdown passes: 173
- Most players throwing a touchdown pass to: 77
- Best touchdown to interception ratio in a season: 28:2
- Most wins on the road by a quarterback: 98
- Most wins at home by a quarterback: 121
- Only quarterback to have three consecutive games with 300+ passing yards, 3+ Touchdown-passes and 0 interceptions
- Oldest quarterback to lead the league in passing yards: 40
- Most yards in a single season for a quarterback aged 40 and older (age 40): 4,577
- Oldest player to win NFL MVP: 40
- Oldest position player to be named first-team All-Pro: 40
- Most career passing yards with one team: 74,571
- Most career passing touchdowns with one team: 541
- Most Pro Bowl Selections: 14
- Most seasons quarterbacking for one team: 19
- Most seasons as passing touchdowns leader: 4 (tied)
And that’s just the regular season. There are also a few January records Brady holds as well:
Playoffs
- Most games played: 41
- Most games started: 41
- Most games won by a starting quarterback: 30
- Most consecutive wins by a starting quarterback: 10 (2001–2005)
- Most consecutive wins to start a career by a starting quarterback: 10 (2001, 2003–2005)
- Most career home wins by a starting quarterback: 20 (2001–2019)
- Most consecutive home wins by a starting quarterback: 9 (2013–2019)
- Most touchdown passes: 73
- Most passing yards: 11,388
- Most passing yards in a single playoff game: 505 (Super Bowl LII)
- Most passes completed: 1,025
- Most passes attempted: 1,626
- Most division titles won by a starting quarterback: 16
- Most NFL conference championship appearances by a starting quarterback: 13
- Most NFL conference championship wins by a starting quarterback: 9
- Oldest Quarterback to win an AFC title game: 41 years, 5 months, 17 days
- Most career 300+ passing yard games: 16
- Most game-winning drives: 13
- Most multi-TD passes: 23
But wait, there’s more!
Playoffs are fine for some...but not for Tommy B. These are the records that really, really matter:
Super Bowl
- Most touchdown passes: 18
- Most passing yards: 2,838
- Most passes completed: 256
- Most passes attempted: 392
- Most wins as starting QB: 6
- Most wins as a player: 6
- Most passes completed in first half of a single Super Bowl: 20
- Most passes completed in a single Super Bowl: 43
- Most passes attempted in a single Super Bowl: 62
- Most passing yards in a single Super Bowl: 505
- Most Super Bowl appearances: 9
- Most passing attempts without an interception in a single Super Bowl: 48
- Oldest QB to start a Super Bowl: 41 years, 6 months, 0 days
- Oldest QB to win a Super Bowl: 41 years, 6 months, 0 days
- Oldest player to win Super Bowl MVP: 39 years, 6 months, 2 days
- Most consecutive completions in a single Super Bowl: 16
- Most game-winning drives: 6
So I guess I can live with being second in this particular category.