NFL Notebook: Tom Brady taking aim at Brett Favre's passing records

Taking a weekend spin around the NFL with a focus on the Patriots...



1. When it comes to taking aim at the finest statistical season for a 40-year-old quarterback in NFL history, Tom Brady has his sights trained on one guy: Brett Favre. Here’s a look at Brady’s six games this year stacked against some of the finished seasons for 40-year-old signal-callers ranked by passer rating, via Pro Football Reference (click here to see the full page):



Favre’s 2009 season is distinguished for a few reasons: First, he’s the only quarterback age 40 who has started 10 or more regular-season games. Second, he was the only quarterback that age to finish a season with more than 4,000 passing yards (4,202), 30 touchdown passes (33) and fewer than 10 picks (seven). And third, he remains the only quarterback 40 or older to win a playoff game, having led his team all the way to the NFC title game before he tossed a killer interception late in a memorable playoff loss to the Saints. At this point, Brady is on pace to break Favre’s first two marks — his current pace would have him at 5,224 passing yards, 35 touchdowns, 5 interceptions. In the end, the personal stats are great, but it’s the third one that Brady would love to surpass the most. This past summer, I asked Brady about his relationship with Favre, and the shared challenge of playing quarterback into your forties. "I've become friends with Brett,” he said. “He's been someone that I've always talked to, so I really enjoy it. I just loved his style. I admired him for so long. We talked about certain things, but yeah, I mean, he was incredible playing as an older quarterback, and he still had a great love for the game. He was a phenomenal player. I always looked up to him."

2. I was able to view an advance copy of the sit-down interview that Tom Brady’s mother Galynn and his father Tom Brady Sr. did with Andrea Kremer of the NFL Network, and it’s extraordinary stuff if you’re a Patriots’ fan. While we’ve grown accustomed to Brady’s father speaking with reporters over the years, to my memory, this is perhaps the first time we’ve heard from his mother at length. The piece focuses specifically on the relationship between Brady and his mother, and what happened around her appearance at Super Bowl LI. "There's a special bond between a mother and a son," she said. "I just wanted to be there for Tommy, and I wanted to be there with our family. Everybody was going to the Super Bowl, and I didn't want to miss that." It’ll run on NFL Network's "NFL GameDay Morning" program on Sunday, which starts at 7 a.m.

3. Eagle-eyed Patriots’ fans might want to keep an eye out for a post extra-point dance routine involving the specialists and Alan Branch, who was recently moved to the field-goal/extra-point team as a blocker. Described by kicker Stephen Gostkowski as a “dorky little Dad dance,” it involves a series of high-fives and moves designed to loosen things up a bit. Gostkowski and punter/holder Ryan Allen said it was introduced by Branch as a way to keep things light on special teams. It’s another symbol that wherever he goes, Branch does his best to inject a little levity into the proceedings.

4. Based on readers’ suggestions, we’re going to change up the penalty information this week to look at penalties per snap. Basically, we’re going to reward the guys who play a ton of snaps but have the fewest penalties on the season. On Sunday against the Jets, the Patriots took six penalties for 45 yards, not counting those that were offset or declined. On the season, New England has 45 penalties (fifth-most in the league), and 398 penalty yards (eighth-most). Overall, here’s a look at players who have played at least 300 snaps this season and have one penalty or fewer:

Zero penalties
G Joe Thuney — 433 offensive snaps
G Shaq Mason — 433 offensive snaps
S Devin McCourty — 414 defensive snaps
S Duron Harmon — 332 defensive snaps

One penalty
QB Tom Brady — 433 offensive snaps
WR Chris Hogan — 401 offensive snaps
CB Malcolm Butler — 395 defensive snaps
LB Kyle Van Noy — 398 defensive snaps
S Patrick Chung — 333 defensive snaps
TE Rob Gronkowski — 320 offensive snaps

Most penalized by position
Special teams: 11 penalties for 92 yards
Cornerback: 6 penalties for 84 yards
Offensive Line: 6 penalties for 65 yards
Wide receiver: 6 penalties for 51 yards
Defensive Line: 6 penalties for 40 yards
Team: 4 penalties for 21 yards
Linebacker: 2 penalties for 20 yards
Tight end: 2 penalties for 15 yards
Safety: 1 penalty for 5 yards
Quarterback: 1 penalty for 5 yards

Most frequently called penalties
Offensive Holding: 6
Offensive Pass Interference: 5
Defensive Holding: 3
False Start: 3
Illegal Use of Hands: 3
Defensive Offsides: 3
Illegal Block Above the Waist: 2
Running Into the Kicker: 2
Unnecessary Roughness: 2
Defensive Pass Interference: 2
Roughing The Passer: 2
Illegal Shift: 2
Illegal Peelback: 1
Interference with Opportunity to Catch: 1
Neutral Zone Infraction: 1
Illegal Forward Pass: 1
Defensive 12 men on the field: 1
Facemask: 1
Offensive 12 men on the field: 1
Delay of Game: 1
Offsides: 1
Illegal Contact: 1

(As always, thanks to NFLpenalties.com for cross-checking the information.)

5. Hard not to notice the impact of two ex-Patriots on the high-flying Eagles, who are 5-1 and in first place in the NFC East. In his first year with Philly, running back LeGarrette Blount has powered the Eagles running game with 390 yards on 70 carries for a 5.6 yards per carry average, while veteran defensive end Chris Long has a pair of sacks in his first six games in Philly. Long has distinguished himself as a leader both on and off the field, while Blount has also assumed a leadership role with a relatively young Eagles’ team, even taking a page out of the New England approach when it comes to how the team should approach the rest of the 2017 season. “You have to stay grounded,” Blount said. “You have to stay humble and make sure that all the guys that are in the building are on the same page. The coaches, the staff, everybody is on the same page, ignoring the noise, not worrying about what other teams are doing, what other teams’ records are — just worrying about ourselves and locked into us.”

6. We caught some flak for our decision to mock Mark Wahlberg for leaving Super Bowl LI early, but this week, Rodney Harrison admitted to doing the same thing. On a conference call previewing this week’s Patriots-Falcons game, he acknowledged that he couldn’t stomach the way things were going, and he left the game in the third quarter. “I was getting harassed by Falcons fans. It got to a point where it was so bad, and I just left because I felt like we were going to lose and we were actually going to get blown out,” Harrison recalled. “I ended up going back to the hotel and sitting in the bar watching it along with probably 300 other fans, who were all rooting against the Patriots, and the Patriots end up pulling it out. I felt terrible for leaving, but at the same point I was happy the Patriots won.” Harrison said he was really looking forward to Sunday’s rematch. “Being around (Bill) Belichick all these years, he’s always preaching about finishing,” Harrison said. “Ironically speaking, (Dan) Quinn and the Falcons, that’s something that they have not been able to do in the Super Bowl, whether it was the last couple of weeks and that’s something that he’ll probably end up preaching to his team this week.”

7. One other tidbit from this week’s conference call with Harrison on the heels of this statement about the defense as a whole: He really likes Malcolm Butler, but says he’s been a “little inconsistent” this season and pressing because he’s in the final year of his current deal. “I think when I look at Malcolm, at times, I see him struggling because I know he’s in a contract year and he wants to prove to everyone that he’s better than Stephon (Gilmore), or just as good or one of the better cornerbacks in this league; and financially he wants to be rewarded for everything that he’s done,” Harrison said. “I think he’s been a little inconsistent. However, I think he’s a really good cornerback and just showed you what he’s made of on Sunday against the Jets. He had an outstanding game, pass breakups, and I just thought he was all over the field. But ultimately he’s going to have to play extremely well and he’s an integral part of this team if they want to make that next step.”

8. With the news that the 2018 NFL draft has been awarded to Dallas, we thought we’d fast-forward six months and take a way-too-early look at what the Patriots might be interested in doing. Take it all with a grain of salt because we’re so far from draft weekend. But it never hurts to take a quick peek at what some of the experts are forecasting.

Drafttek: DT Maurice Hurst, Michigan
Walter Football: DE/DT Tavon Bryan, Florida
CBS Sports: LB Kendall Joseph, Clemson
SI.com: LB Malik Jefferson, Texas
Bleacher Report: LB Lorenzo Carter, Georgia
USA Today Draftwire: CB Jaire Alexander, Louisville

9. Last week, I was 7-7, and on the year, I’m 55-34. This week, I’ve got the Chiefs, Vikings, Dolphins, Packers, Colts, Titans, Panthers, Bills, Rams, Niners, Broncos. Steelers, Seahawks, Patriots and Eagles.

10. This coming week should be a little less dramatic than the past week, as the Patriots will be prepping for a Sunday at one game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Expect some talk about the quarterback/tight end comparisons, as both the Philip Rivers/Antonio Gates and Brady/Gronkowski combinations, are among the most productive in the history of the game when you’re talking about peerless passing duos.