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November 19, 2007

Record-breaking night

By Joe McDonald
Journal Sports Writer

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The first thing Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did after yesterday’s dominating win over the Buffalo Bills was kiss Myra Kraft.

The young stud planted a huge one on the cheek of his boss’s wife before heading into New England’s locker room where the song “Another One Bits the Dust” was blaring.

The feeling of affection is surely reciprocal because Brady is becoming the best quarterback in franchise history, and he took another step toward immortality last night. He completed 31 of 39 passes for 373 yards, including five touchdowns. With his six-yard TD pass to Randy Moss with 6:33 remaining in the second quarter, Brady surpassed former Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan with 183 career touchdown passes to become the franchise leader in that category.

It took Grogan 16 seasons to reach that plateau. It has taken Brady only seven.

Even though Brady is not one to talk about individual accomplishments, he did say it was an honor to be put in the same category with someone with Grogan.

“We have a great history of players for the Patriots,” said Brady. “Every time we take the field (at Gillette Stadium) we see the banners of the history of our team and the players who led the way for us. Hopefully we make those guys proud. I follow in the footsteps of a great quarterback myself in Drew Bledsoe, who taught me how to play quarterback in the NFL. . . Every time I’m around (Grogan) I think he’s a great person. He’s a great representative of the Patriots organization.”

Brady wasn’t alone last night in the history-making class.

First-year teammate and wide receiver Randy Moss caught 10 passes for 128 yards, including four touchdowns. When he grabbed his first TD of the night – a 43-yard reception to give New England a 14-0 lead with 8:04 remaining in the first quarter – he set the new Patriots’ single-season record with his 13th touchdown reception to surpass former receiver Stanley Morgan, who caught 12 in 1979.

Moss wasn’t done.

He finished with three more touchdown catchers to set another franchise mark, the single-game touchdown record of four. It was the first four TD game in team history. Moss is also the first Patriots player to grab at least three TD passes since Ben Coates accomplished that feat on Nov. 26, 1995.

And, it’s only November.

“I’ve never been a fan of records,” said Moss. “I learned at a young age that records are made to be broken, and I’ve never lived for my name in the record books. We have a goal, and that goal is to still be playing in January.”

Every week the Patriots’ offense continues to impress, and yesterday was as a dominating performance as they scored a season-high 56 points. In fact, the scored seven times on their first seven possessions.

So, Moss was asked if he has ever been a part of an offense this dominating, and he quickly pooh-poohed the question for good reason.

“The ’98 Vikings still hold the record for most points in the season,” he answered from first-hand experience.

That record of 556 points by Minnesota in 1998 may not last too much longer as the Patriots have scored 411 in the first 10 games of this season.

Earlier Sunday afternoon, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens caught eight passes for 173 yards, including four touchdowns in the Cowboys’ 28-23 victory over Washington. Moss said he saw the performance, but that didn’t give him any more motivation than he already had heading into his game Sunday night.

“Yeah, I saw it,” he said. “But I don’t get into that. I have a job to do and that’s for me to block and catch balls. To go out there and try to duplicate another receiver, that’s not my game and I’m not going to do that.”

It was a record-setting day for the New England Patriots, one that ended with a kiss. The next time Brady kisses something immediately after a game, it could be another Vince Lombardi Trophy. Then, of course, he’ll pass it over to Moss.

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 2:21 AM | Permalink