Tom Brady Can Tie Record For Most Wins, Set Record For Most Touchdowns By Any QB In Buffalo Since 2001
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- A few years ago, Donald Trump tried to purchase the Buffalo Bills. It didn't work. His buddy Tom Brady already had ownership.
Yes, there's nobody on this planet who owns the Bills quite like Tom Brady has, and his 16 years of dominance could quite possibly crystallize in the clearest way possible this weekend in Orchard Park.
If Brady and the Patriots beat the Bills on Sunday, it will be Brady's 14th career victory in Buffalo. No quarterback has won 14 games in Buffalo since 2001 ... and yes, that includes quarterbacks who played for the Bills.
Nick Veronica of The Buffalo News lays it all out this week.
Drew Bledsoe spent three seasons as the Bills' starter from 2002-04, and he won 14 games in what was formerly known as Ralph Wilson Stadium and is now named New Era Field. Tyrod Taylor, who will start Sunday for Buffalo, has 13 wins there, and Ryan Fitzpatrick has 13 wins in Buffalo from his time with the Jets and Bills combined.
The major difference between the four quarterbacks? Brady is 13-2, losing only in 2003 and 2011, for an .875 winning percentage. Bledsoe went 14-10 (.583), Taylor is 13-7 (.650) and Fitzpatrick owns a 13-13 (.500) record.
What's more, if Brady throws two touchdowns on Sunday, he'll pass Fitzpatrick for most touchdown passes by a quarterback in Buffalo since 2001.
It bears mentioning that Brady only plays in Buffalo once per season. And yet, in a 16-year stretch, Bills quarterbacks who have made eight starts per year at home have not been able to match his success.
That means through Bledsoe, through Kelly Holcomb, through J.P. Losman, through Trent Edwards, through Fitzpatrick, through E.J. Manuel, through Kyle Orton and Taylor, Brady has outperformed them all.
Brady's ownership over the Bills extends south to Foxboro too, of course. Overall, in 29 games against the Bills, Brady has won 26 of them, throwing 66 touchdowns and 20 interceptions while posting a 101.5 passer rating.
There are only four quarterbacks in Bills history who have thrown 66 touchdowns for Buffalo, period.
It's got to be concerning for the Bills franchise, too, that Brady keeps getting better against them as he gets older. In his last three trips to Buffalo, Brady has thrown 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions, completed 67.4 percent of his passes for 381 yards per game, and posted a 123.6 passer rating. In 2015, at age 38, he threw for the second-highest single-game total (466 yards) of his Hall of Fame career.
Add it all up, and the short version is that Brady is not only the best quarterback in Patriots history, but he's also the best quarterback in Bills history.
It's interesting because it was those very same Bills who -- for a very brief moment in December of 2001 -- looked like they might have ended Brady's career before it ever took off.
Much to Buffalo's chagrin, Brady stuck around.