New England 49, Buffalo 21
When: 1:00 PM ET, Sunday, January 1, 2012
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
Temperature:
51°
Head Official:
Bill Leavy
Attendance:
68756
By SportsDirect Inc.
Tom Brady became the second player in the last week to pass Dan Marino’s single-season passing yardage mark, completing 23 of 35 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns to lead the New England Patriots to a 49-21 win over the visiting Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
The Patriots (13-3) stormed back from a 21-0 first-quarter deficit against the Bills and locked down the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
Brady finished with 5,235 passing yards on the season, the second-highest total of all-time behind New Orleans’ Drew Brees, who wound up with 5,476.
Rob Gronkowski extended his single-season record for touchdown catches by a tight end to 17 with a pair of scores and BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for two touchdowns for New England.
Gronkowski also broke the single-season record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,327.
For the second week in a row, the Patriots found themselves down by at least three scores early in the game.
But Brady and the offense chipped away, driving 77 yards for a score on the first drive of the second quarter and pulling to within 21-14 at the half when Brady threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez.
Two third-quarter field goals and Brady’s 17-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski gave New England the lead.
With 3:07 left in the game, Brady found Gronkowski again for a 7-yard score, the 300th touchdown pass of his career.
New England’s defense picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick four times and avenged an early-season loss at Buffalo.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Buffalo
|
402 |
106 |
296 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
4.0 |
2 |
New England
|
480 |
138 |
342 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
2.0 |
0 |