 Aaron Hernandez caught a record breaking pass on the first play from scrimmage Sunday. (FILE:USPresswire) |
It's been quite a season for the Patriots, and they reached a couple of milestones yet again on Sunday.
It started on the first play from scrimmage, when Tom Brady connected with Aaron Hernandez for a 14-yard completion to kick things off. That play gave them their 417th first down of the season, breaking the previous NFL single-season mark of 416.
Overall they finished with 28 on the afternoon, bringing their final total for the season to 444 and setting the new benchmark.
Quarterback Tom Brady also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw a touchdown pass in all 16 regular season games for 3 straight seasons. It came in the 1st quarter on a 9-yard scoring throw to Wes Welker to put the Patriots up 7-0. For Welker it also gave him his 110th consecutive game with a reception.
That play also gave Brady his 48th straight regular season game with a touchdown pass, moving him ahead of Johnny Unitas for 2nd longest all time and puts him 6 behind Drew Brees' record of 54.
He finished the 2012 regular season with 4,827 passing yards, his second highest total of his career behind last year's total of 5,235.
OTHER NOTES: Stevan Ridley also reached the 1,200 rushing yard mark on his second carry of the game, making him the 5th Patriot ever to do so. He later reached 1,235 rushing yards in one season, good for 4th best in franchise history. His final total for 2012 is 1,263...Brady also moved ahead of Drew Bledsoe for 9th in NFL history after reaching 44,614 career yards passing at about the two minute mark in the first quarter...Brady also reached 3,788 career completions with just over 4-minutes left in the first half, moving him ahead of Vinny Testeverde for 8th in NFL history.
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