Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes and became the NFL’s career leader in total yards passed when the New England Patriots shrugged away a fistful of penalties and came through to beat New York Jets 27-13 in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday.
In NFL Week 12, Brady completed 20 of 31 passes to total 283 yards as New England with an 8-win-3-loss record beat the struggling Jets (3-18) for the 13th time in their past 15 clashes.
Brady came into the game 147 yards short of getting past Peyton Manning’s career record mark of 79,279 and completed the feat with a 4-yard pass to rookie Sony Michel in the second quarter.
The score in this game, which strengthened New England’s hold at the top of the AFC South standings, was pretty predictable and will probably have benefitted New Jersey and Nevada punters as most of the week’s reasonably-predictable results would have done.
Meanwhile
High-flying Saints’ 32-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in one of the three Week-12 matches played on Thanksgiving Thursday, is a good example.
It was certainly predictable and has kept New Orleans strongly placed at the top of the NFC South standings.
It has also put them in a tie with NFC West leaders LA Rams at the top of the overall standing with a 10-win, one-loss, and .909 point record.
The Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs, the AFC West leaders, both had byes, and in a no-shocks week when the Saints and the Patriots were also joined as winners by the NFC East’s joint front-runners Dallas Cowboys and NFC North’s top dogs Chicago Bears, the only division leaders to go down were the Pittsburgh Steelers.
They were beaten 24-17 by the Denver Broncos but kept their hold on the top spot in their division.
The Cowboys trailed the Redskins in the NFC East standings at the start of their Thursday clash. But drew level with a hard-fought 31-23 victory over their rivals.
Neither will be feeling too secure, however.
The injury-hit Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles, who bounced back on Sunday from the 48-7 thrashing given them by the high-flying Saints a week ago with a narrow 25-23 victory over the New York Giants, are right on their heels with one less win after 11 games
NFL Week 12 Results
Thursday, November 22
Chicago Bears 23, Detroit Lions 16
Washington Redskins 23, Dallas Cowboys 31
New Orleans Saints 32, Atlanta Falcons 23
Sunday, November 25
Oakland Raiders 17, Baltimore Raven 34
Jackson Jaguars 21 Buffalo Bills 24
Seattle Sea Hawks 30, Carolina Panthers 27
Cleveland Browns 35 Cincinnati Bengals 20
New England Patriots 27, New York Jets 13
New York Giants 23, Philadelphia Eagles 25
San Francisco 49ers 9, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27
Los Angeles Chargers 45, Arizona Cardinals 10
Miami Dolphins 24, Indianapolis Colts 27
Pittsburgh Steelers 17, Denver Broncos 24
Green Bay Packers 17, Minnesota Vikings 24
Monday, November 26
Tennessee Titans (5-5) v Houston Texans (7-3)
Byes: Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs