Some additional facts & Stats from Sunday's win over Buffalo:
- The Patriots had three of their longest rushing plays of the season on Sunday, with Wes Welker's 19 yard rush in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Hernandez's 19 yard 3rd quarter rush accounting for the 7th & 8th longest rushing gains of the season. Stevan Ridley's 21 yard carry in the 2nd quarter was their 4th longest rushing play of the season.
- Ridley's shown he's an impact guy. Of the Patriots 10 longest rushing plays this season, he accounts for six of them. Of that list BenJarvus Green-Ellis only accounted for one, which was an 18 yard first quarter gain in week 8 against the Giants.
- Green-Ellis tied Chad Ochocinco with the fourth longest pass play from scrimmage of the year on Sunday, with his 3rd quarter 53-yard screen play putting him in the standings. Ochocinco had a 53-yard catch of his own back in week 9 at MetLife Stadium against the Jets.
- New England's tough start obviously hurt them in the first quarter on Sunday, with Tom Brady throwing for just 11 yards passing - his second lowest passing yardage total in the opening quarter this season. His second lowest total came in week 7 against Pittsburgh where he passed for 8 yards.
- By contrast Brady came out and had a better second quarter performance, throwing for 123 yards on 9-of-11 passing, his third best yardage total that quarter of the season. His 82% completion percentage also tied for his best percentage of the year in that quarter, and the third time he's done so this year.
- The final quarter for Brady yesterday was also one of his best, with Brady finishing with 124 yards passing, his third highest total for the fourth quarter this season - and 4 yards better than the 120 he threw for against Miami last week. His 90% completion percentage was his second highest of the year, with the veteran quarterback having finished a perfect 100% twice in the final quarter this season (Week 9 vs. the Jets, and Week 14 at Denver).
- BenJarvus Green-Ellis' rushing touchdown in the second quarter gave him his 10th of the season, making him only the 3rd Patriot ever to have back-to-back 10+ rushing touchdown season. The last was Corey Dillon (2004-2006).
- Brady's 39-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez in the second quarter achieved two milestones on Sunday. At the time it gave him 5,004 passing yards, allowing him to become the third player in NFL history to finish with a 5,000 yard season. It was also Brady's 32nd straight regular season with a touchdown pass.
- Brady's 7 yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski in the fourth quarter was his 29th red zone touchdown pass of the season, and his 99th red zone pass attempt. It was also Gronkowski's 17th touchdown reception of the season, and his 12th red zone touchdown. It was also Brady's 300th career touchdown pass, tying John Elway for 5th place all-time. It also gave Gronkowski his 6th 100-yard game this year.
- Sunday's win over Buffalo was also the 12th 30+ point game of the season for New England, tying the NFL record held by the 2007 Patriots, and 1999 St. Louis Rams.
- Rob Gronkowski's 22-yard reception at the end of the fourth quarter from Brian Hoyer helped him further edge out New Orleans' Jimmy Graham in the battle for the single season tight-end yardage record. That final play gave him 1327 receiving yards on the year, well ahead of the 1310 by Graham. Belichick later admitted that he called that play to make sure Gronkowski achieved the milestone.
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