Posted at 2:24 p.m., Sunday, December 23, 2007
NFL: Patriots set records in 28-7 win over Dolphins
By HOWARD ULMAN
AP Sports Writer
And New England still has one game left to reach an even more amazing goal: the first team to finish a regular season undefeated in 35 years.
Brady threw three touchdown passes, two to Moss, and the Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins 28-7 today to improve to 15-0, the best start in league history. The old mark: Miami's 14-0 in 1972 when the season lasted just 14 games.
Today's disjointed Dolphins (1-14) couldn't protect the record of their dominant predecessors.
If the Patriots beat the New York Giants at the Meadowlands next Saturday night, then go unbeaten in the postseason to finish 19-0, they'll join the Dolphins as the only teams to post a perfect record from opening day until the clock in the championship game runs out.
Brady has 48 touchdown passes, one shy of Peyton Manning's NFL record of 49 set in 2004 and tied with Dan Marino's production in 1984.
Moss reached 21 touchdown receptions, one less than Jerry Rice's mark of 22 set in 12 games in 1987, a strike year.
There was more.
The Patriots tied their NFL record of 18 consecutive regular-season wins set in 2003-04. They also broke the league mark of 70 touchdowns in one season by the 1984 Dolphins, reaching 71 before Miami finally scored late in the third quarter on Cleo Lemon's 21-yard pass to Greg Camarillo.
That was meaningless compared with their 67-yard hookup a week earlier that gave Miami a 22-16 overtime win over Baltimore. That touchdown unleashed jubilation in the Dolphin Stadium stands because there was no longer a chance these Dolphins would be the first team to finish 0-16.
