But much to the chagrin of the 68,756 in attendance, Tom Brady's pursuit of Peyton Manning's record for touchdown passes in a season and wide receiver Randy Moss's chase of Jerry Rice's mark for TD catches in a season will continue away from home. Brady threw three scoring passes in the first half and has 48, one off Manning's NFL record. Moss hauled in two more TD catches in the first half (11 and 1 yard) and is now one short of tying Jerry Rice's record of 22.
But Brady, Moss, and the Patriots, who had wide receiver Troy Brown for the first time all season, were shut out in the second half, marking the first time the team failed to register a point in a half. Instead, those records, like the Patriots' quest for 16-0, will have to wait until Saturday night's season finale against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium.
"That record has been around for I don't know how many years, but records are meant to be broken," said Moss, who had five catches for 50 yards. "If I break the record, I'm cool. If I don't I'm cool, as long as that zero stays in that [loss] column I'm fine. So, basically what I'm saying is I want to keep winning, the [heck] with records."
New England only had 96 yards of total offense in the second half and picked up six first downs. Brady, who was 18 of 33 for 215 yards overall, was 4 of 15 for 52 yards and threw both of his interceptions in the second half. The Patriots' seven second-half possessions featured two Brady interceptions, a strip-sack fumble by No. 12, and four punts.
"I don't think you ever want to have a half like that, but it's something to learn from and something we can look at and get better with," said wide receiver Wes Welker, who had five catches for 49 yards to tie Troy Brown's club record for catches in a season (101).
