Buffalo Bills vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats On Jan 01, 2012

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Jan 1, 2012

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.