THE WEEK THAT WAS – WEEK 12
EXCITING FINISH: The BALTIMORE RAVENS defeated Cleveland 33-27 on Monday Night Football after safety WILL HILL returned a blocked field goal 64 yards for a touchdown as time expired. The Ravens became the second team in NFL history to win on the final play by blocking a field goal and returning it for a touchdown.
The DENVER BRONCOS defeated San Diego 30-24 on November 17, 1985 on defensive backLOUIS WRIGHT’s 60-yard blocked field goal return for a touchdown in overtime.
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FAST STARTERS: The CAROLINA PANTHERS defeated Dallas 33-14 on Thanksgiving Day to improve to 11-0 for the first time in franchise history.
Entering 2015, 11 teams started a season 11-0 during the Super Bowl era. Of those 11 clubs, all 11 made the playoffs, eight advanced to the Super Bowl and five of those teams won the Super Bowl.
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TERRIFIC TOM: New England Patriots quarterback TOM BRADY passed for 280 yards and three touchdowns against Denver on Sunday Night Football.
Brady has 420 career touchdown passes and tied Pro Football Hall of Famer DAN MARINO for the third-most touchdown passes in NFL history.
The quarterbacks with the most touchdown passes in NFL history:
PLAYER
YEARS
CAREER TD PASSES
Peyton Manning*
1998-present
539
Brett Favre
1991-2010
508
Tom Brady*
2000-present
420
Dan Marino
1983-1999
420
Drew Brees*
2001-present
416
*Active
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CRUISING CAM: Carolina quarterback CAM NEWTON ran for a touchdown in the Panthers’ 33-14 victory at Dallas.
Newton, who has 40 career rushing touchdowns, tied JACK KEMP for the second-most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in NFL history. Pro Football Hall of Famer STEVE YOUNG (43) is the only quarterback with more career rushing touchdowns.
The quarterbacks with the most rushing touchdowns in NFL history:
PLAYER
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS
Steve Young
43
Cam Newton
40*
Jack Kemp
40
*Active
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RUSHING PETERSON: Minnesota running back ADRIAN PETERSON rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the Vikings’ 20-10 win at Atlanta. Peterson (30) is the sixth player in NFL history to have 30 career games with at least 125 rushing yards.
The other five players with at least 30 125-yard rushing games are all in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:BARRY SANDERS (46), JIM BROWN (41), WALTER PAYTON (38), ERIC DICKERSON (36) andEMMITT SMITH (34).
The performance also marked Peterson’s 18th career game with at least 150 rushing yards, tied with Dickerson and Smith for the fourth-most in NFL history.
The players with the most career games with at least 150 rushing yards:
PLAYER
CAREER GAMES WITH 150+ RUSH YARDS
Barry Sanders^
25
Jim Brown^
22
Walter Payton^
20
Adrian Peterson*
18
Eric Dickerson^
18
Emmitt Smith^
18
*Active
^Pro Football Hall of Famer
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WONDERFUL WATT: Houston defensive end J.J. WATT had two sacks in the Texans’ 24-6 win against New Orleans.
Watt now has 70.5 sacks in 75 career games and reached 70 sacks in the second-fewest games of any NFL player since the statistic became official in 1982, trailing only Pro Football Hall of FamerREGGIE WHITE, who reached the milestone in 57 games.
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SUPER CHARGERS: San Diego quarterback PHILIP RIVERS passed for 300 yards and four touchdowns in the Chargers’ 31-25 win at Jacksonville.
Rivers, who now has 40,166 career passing yards, reached 40,000 career yards in his 159th career game, the fourth-fastest in NFL history. Only DREW BREES (152 games), Pro Football Hall of FamerDAN MARINO (153) and PEYTON MANNING (154) reached the milestone in fewer games.
The players to reach 40,000 career passing yards in the fewest games:
PLAYERS
GAMES TO REACH 40,000 CAREER PASSING YARDS
Drew Brees
152
Dan Marino
153
Peyton Manning
154
Philip Rivers
159
Chargers tight end ANTONIO GATES had two touchdown receptions against the Jaguars on Sunday. The performance marked Gates’ 21st career game with at least two touchdown catches, the most ever by a tight end. He also surpassed Pro Football Hall of Famer DON MAYNARD (20) for the eighth-most such games amongst all NFL players.
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EFFECTIVE EIFERT: Cincinnati tight end TYLER EIFERT had three receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals’ 31-7 win against St. Louis.
Eifert, who has 12 touchdown receptions this season, became the second tight end in the last 50 years to have at least 12 touchdowns through the first 12 weeks of a season (JULIUS THOMAS, 12 in 2013).
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FLYING FITZPATRICK: New York Jets quarterback RYAN FITZPATRICK passed for 277 yards and four touchdowns in the Jets’ 38-20 victory over Miami.
Fitzpatrick, who has had at least one game with four or more touchdown passes in each of the past six seasons, became the first player in NFL history to throw at least four touchdown passes in a game for four different franchises (Buffalo, Tennessee, Houston and the New York Jets).
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DOMINANT DANSBY: Cleveland linebacker KARLOS DANSBY recorded four tackles and had a 52-yard interception-return touchdown in the Browns’ loss to Baltimore on Monday Night Football.
Dansby, who now has six career interception-return touchdowns, tied Pro Football Hall of FamersBOBBY BELL and DERRICK BROOKS for the most all-time by an NFL linebacker.
