Brady, Belichick And The Patriots Continue To Rewrite NFL's Record Books
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
FOXBORO (CBS) -- These days, if the Patriots are playing football, there's a good chance they're going to be setting records. That was certainly the case on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots got out to a 35-7 lead before halftime en route to a 41-28 win over the visiting Chargers in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs. As a result, Bill Belichick's team will have at least one more game to play this season -- and one more chance to continue their rewriting of the record books.
But before anyone gets too ahead of themselves, here's a look at all of the records either set, tied, added to, or approached by the Patriots on Sunday. (All information courtesy of the Patriots' media relations department.)
The Patriots have now reached eight consecutive conference title games, adding to their own record.
The Raiders (1973-77) have the second-longest streak, at five straight conference championship game appearances. No other franchise has more than four.
The Patriots are now tied with the San Francisco 49ers for second with 15 championship game appearances in franchise history. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been to the most conference title games in NFL history, with 16 appearances.
The Patriots moved into a tie for the second-most postseason wins of all time.
Sunday's win was the 35th playoff victory in Patriots franchise history. That's just one win shy of Pittsburgh for the most of all time, and it's now tied with Dallas.
The Packers, with 30 playoff wins, rank fourth, followed by San Francisco (30) and Oakland (25).
The Patriots are also now tied for the most divisional round wins (16) with Pittsburgh.
The Patriots beat their own record for most wins in a decade.
The 2010-19 Patriots have officially won more than the 2000-09 Patriots.
Sunday's win was the 113th victory since 2010, a record for any team in a single decade. The mark was previously held by the Patriots, who went 112-48 in the first decade of this century. The Patriots are currently 113-31 in the current decade, upping their win percentage from .700 in the first decade of the century to .785 in the second decade.
MOST WINS IN A DECADE
Patriots, 2010-19: 113-31 (.785)
Patriots, 2000-09: 112-48 (.700)
Indianapolis, 2000-09: 115-45 (.719)
San Francisco, 1990-99: 113-47 (.706)
Keeping it on the same theme, the 2010-19 Patriots have now tied the mark co-owned by the 2000-09 Patriots for most postseason wins in a single decade. The current Patriots and the previous decade's Patriots are tied with the 1970s Cowboys and 1970s Steelers with 14 playoff wins in a single decade. The 1980s 49ers won 13 playoff games.The Patriots need one more playoff win either this season or next to own that record.
The Patriots have now won at least one playoff game for eight straight years, extending their own record.
The Patriots have won at least one playoff game every year dating back to 2011. With a playoff win in eight straight games, the Patriots added to their existing record. Dallas (6) ranks second.
As an owner, Robert Kraft has made up some serious ground on some historic ownership groups.
Sunday's win was the 31st playoff victory of Kraft's ownership, which began in 1994. That ranks third all time among all NFL ownership groups, behind the Rooneys in Pittsburgh (36) and the publicly owned Packers (34). What's most impressive there is that, as noted by the Patriots, the Rooneys purchased the Steelers in 1933, while the Packers were founded in 1919.
The Patriots put up the second-highest point total in a first half of any playoff game in history.
This one puts into perspective how thorough the first-half beatdown was, as the Patriots' 35 points were tied for the second-most every put on the scoreboard of any single first half in NFL playoff history.
MOST FIRST-HALF POINTS, NFL PLAYOFF HISTORY
Jacksonville, 1999, vs. Miami: 41 points
New England, 2018, vs. L.A. Chargers: 35 points
New England, 2011, vs. Denver: 35 points
New Orleans, 1999, vs. Arizona: 35 points
Bill Belichick coached in his 16th divisional round game (most of all time) and will coach his 13th conference title game (most of all time.)
Tom Landry coached in 10 conference title games, which ranks second, followed by Don Shula and Chuck Noll, who coached in seven conference championships apiece.
No player has participated in more divisional round games than Tom Brady.
MOST DIVISIONAL ROUND PLAYOFF GAMES PLAYED
Tom Brady, 15
Jerry Rice, 13
Brady set a record for most consecutive playoff passes without an interception.
Brady has now thrown 228 consecutive postseason passes without throwing an interception. His last interception in the playoffs came in Super Bowl LI against Atlanta. He's now gone 18 straight postseason quarters without throwing a pick.
MOST CONSECUTIVE PLAYOFF PASSES WITHOUT INT
Tom Brady, 2017-present: 228
Drew Brees, 2007-2012: 226
Joe Flacco, 2012-2015: 197
Tom Brady recorded his 15th career 300-yard postseason game.
That's by far the most of all time, more than Peyton Manning (9), Drew Brees (7) and three others (Joe Montana, Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers) with six.
Brady's won at least double the playoff games of anyone not named Montana.
Unless you're Joe Montana, Tom Brady has at least doubled you up on playoff wins.
MOST PLAYOFF WINS BY QB, NFL HISTORY
1. Tom Brady, 28
2. Joe Montana, 16
3. Terry Bradshaw, 14
3. John Elway, 14
3. Peyton Manning, 14
The Belichick/Brady coach-QB duo has now doubled up on the next-best duo.
Belichick and Brady have now won 28 playoff games together. The next-best duo is Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw, who won 14 playoff games together in Pittsburgh.
Tom Landry and Roger Staubach rank third, with 11.
Julian Edelman has climbed into some ridiculous company.
The seventh-round pick out of Kent State has carved out quite the career. With 151 yards on nine receptions on Sunday, he now ranks second all time in postseason receptions, behind only Jerry Rice. He also now ranks third all time in 100-yard receiving games in postseason history, and he now ranks seventh all time in postseason receiving yards.
MOST PLAYOFF RECEPTIONS, ALL TIME
1. Jerry Rice, 151
2. Julian Edelman, 98
3. Reggie Wayne, 93
4. Hines Ward, 88
4. Wes Welker, 88MOST PLAYOFF 100-YARD RECEIVING GAMES, ALL TIME
1. Jerry Rice, 8 (in 29 playoff games)
2. Michael Irvin, 6 (in 16 playoff games)
3. Julian Edelman, 5 (in 16 playoff games)
3. John Stallworth, 5 (in 18 playoff games)
3. Andre Reed, 5 (in 21 playoff games)
3. Hines Ward, 5 (in 18 playoff games)
3. Larry Fitzgerald, 5 (18 playoff games)
3. Antonio Brown, 5 (in 10 playoff gamesMost Postseason Receiving Yards
1. Jerry Rice 2,245
2. Michael Irvin 1,315
3. Cliff Branch 1,289
4. Reggie Wayne 1,254
5. Andre Reed 1,229
6. Hines Ward 1,181
7. Julian Edelman 1,175
8. Fred Biletnikoff 1,167
9. Paul Warfield 1,121
10. Drew Pearson 1,105
James White tied the record for most receptions in a single playoff game.
White caught 15 passes on Sunday, tying him with Darren Sproles for the most receptions in any playoff game. White also caught 14 passes in Super Bowl LI vs. Atlanta.
Tom Brady gained ground on old friend Adam Vinatieri.
The two have been jockeying for most all-time wins for some time now, but Brady has now closed some ground.
MOST WINS (REG. SEASON AND PLAYOFFS)
1. Adam Vinatieri, 236
2. Tom Brady, 235
3. George Blanda, 218
4. Jerry Rice, 211
5. Gary Anderson, 210
6. Peyton Manning, 200
So, Coach Belichick, it's all rather impressive. Might you be able to sum it all up for us?
"Yeah, I mean, honestly I don't really care about that right now," Belichick said. "I'm worried about this team and what this team has done. This team has worked hard all year to put itself in position to compete for the AFC Championship, obviously, against a great team in Kansas City. That's really what we're focused on. Whatever happened last year or some other year, whatever it is, it is. It's all in the books. This team has a lot in front of it and that's really what we're going to focus on is what this team can do."
All right then. Until next week.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.