By the Numbers: New England Patriots
In 64 seasons of playing professional football, the Boston/New England Patriots have a rich history of success and failure. The franchise has the most Super Bowl victories with six, while also tying for the most losses in the big game with five. From the GOAT to the Hoodie, New England has a deep history. Here is a look at the Patriots by the numbers before Sunday’s game against Dallas.
6 – That is how many starts Patriots punter Tom Yewcic made at quarterback in his six seasons in Boston. Yewcic played with the team from 1961 to 1966 and garnered three wins in his six starts. In those games, Yewcic completed 87 of 206 passes for 1,374 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also threw 12 interceptions. Yewcic went 3-1 during the 1962 season and 0-1 in 1961, all in place of starter Babe Parilli. As for his regular job, Yewcic punted 377 times for a 38.6 average with a long of 70 yards in his time with the Boston Patriots.
8 – For a team with six Super Bowl victories in 11 appearances, there aren’t many players that have had their numbers retired. In fact, just eight have been retired since the franchise began play in 1960 as the Boston Patriots, and only one – No. 12, played on any of the teams championship winning seasons – Tom Brady. Of the other seven players, only one played after 1990 – guard/tackle Bruce Armstrong (No. 78). The other six retired numbers are No. 20 flanker/split end/defensive back/wide receiver/kicker Gin Cappelletti (1960-70), No. 40 defensive back Mike Haynes (1976-82), No. 57 linebacker Steve Nelson (1974-87), No. 73 guard John Hannah (1973-85), No. 79 defensive tackle/defensive end Jim Lee Hunt (1960-70) and No. 89 defensive end/defensive tackle Bob Dee (1960-67).
32 – The Cowboys will see plenty of defensive end Matt Judon on Sunday. Currently tied for fourth with Dallas’ Micah Parsons with 4.0 sacks through three weeks, Judon has been one of the NFL’s best pass rushers since entering the league in 2016 with Baltimore. Judon came to New England to start the 2021 season, and in 37 games has 32 sacks. If he stays healthy and keeps up his current pace, he could take the top spot in team history from Andre Tippett (100 sacks) sometime in the 2028 season. In his career to date, Judon has 66.5 sacks. His best season was last year, where he finished with 15.5 sacks and tied for fourth in the NFL with Kansas City’s Chris Jones.
80 – If you want to lead this franchise in touchdowns, you’re gonna have to go through Gronk to grab the top spot. Thanks to nine seasons with Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski caught 79 touchdown passes and ran in another one to top the list. He is 12 better than wide receiver Stanley Morgan, who caught 67 touchdowns and also returned a punt for a score during his 13 seasons in New England. Ben Coates and Randy Moss with 50 and Sam Cunningham with 49 rounds out the top five of the list.
8,262 – After seven seasons in Dallas, running back Ezekiel Elliott landed in New England and has shown flashes of why he left the Cowboys as the third leading rusher in team history. During his time in Dallas, Elliott amassed his more than 8,200 yards rushing in 103 games. Had he done that in New England, he would be the franchise’s leading rusher by 2,809 yards over Sam Cunningham, who heads the Patriots list with 5,453 yards over 10 seasons (1973-82). In his three games in New England, Elliott has 122 yards on 28 carries.
44,914 – No, that is not the amount of passing yards Tom Brady had in his 20 seasons (2000-19) with the New England franchise. It is the amount of passing yards between Tom Brady’s club leading 74,571 yards and Drew Bledsoe’s 29,657 yards, from 1993 to 2001, which is second on the list. The Patriots have had just five quarterbacks in team history to throw for over 10,000 yards during their time in New England – Steve Grogan 1975-90 (26,886), Babe Parilli 1961-67 (16,747) and Tony Eason 1983-89 (10,732). It is a franchise that has had 32 players start games at quarterback in its 64-year history.