Patriots rewrite the books

AMERICAN FOOTBALL/The Patriots' game: A record season:The New England Patriots earned a place in NFL history by completing a perfect, 16-0, regular season with a 38-35 victory at the New York Giants on Saturday.

The Patriots overcame a 12-point, third-quarter deficit to become the first NFL team to go undefeated in a regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins went 14-0.

New England turned the tide with a second-half spurt after the Giants had taken a 28-16 lead with a 19-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress with 9:12 left in the third quarter.

Laurence Maroney danced into the end zone from six yards out to make it 28-23 and, with less than four minutes gone in the fourth quarter, Pats quarterback Tom Brady hit favourite receiver Randy Moss with a 65-yard bomb to grab the lead.

Another TD plunge by Maroney with 4:36 remaining pushed the Pats' lead to 38-28 as New England scored 22 unanswered points before the Giants pulled within three with Manning's second TD pass to Burress with just over a minute left on the clock.

Brady's last strike to Moss, who had dropped a wide open deep pass on the previous play, was their second TD hook-up of the game and gave Brady the NFL record for most touchdown passes in a season (50) and Moss the record for most TD catches (23).

"I think it's a lot of hard work," Brady told reporters. "I'm proud of this team."

Asked about the go-ahead heave to Moss streaking down the sideline, Brady said: "I threw it about as far as I could and he tracked it down.

"16-0," he said with pride. "We're down in the third quarter and the crowd was into it and we found a way to win it. That's what it's going to be like down the stretch. I just hope we can continue to play this type of football."

New England, who get a first-round bye when the play-offs begin next weekend, also set an NFL record for most points in a season with 589, eclipsing the 1998 mark of 556 set by the Minnesota Vikings.

"It's really exciting to be part of this football team," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who along with Brady and some other New England stalwarts won three of four Super Bowls starting with the championship following the 2001 season.

"They came through like they have all year. It's a great feeling."

Leading up to the game there was much speculation about how seriously the Giants (10-6) would take the game since they were already locked into a wildcard round game next week.

From the start, it was clear the Pats were in for a fight. The hard-hitting first half saw five lead changes, with the Giants drawing first blood and last with a 74-yard kickoff return touchdown by New York's Domenik Hixon in between as they took a 21-16 lead at intermission.

The Patriots, however, refused to be derailed and their high-powered offence kicked into gear after the scare.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin was disappointed with the defeat but proud of his players.

"The frustrating part of that is to play as hard as we did and to lose. We're not very happy. But I will say this, there's nothing but positives," he said. Most victories in a season: New England became the first team in NFL history to win 16 games in a regular season, which expanded its schedule by two games in 1978. The 2004 Steelers, 1998 Vikings, 1985 Bears, and 1984 49ers all posted 15 wins.

Most touchdown passes in a season: Tom Brady threw two TD passes to finish the season with 50, breaking the mark of 49 set by Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in 2004.

Most touchdown catches in a season: Randy Moss caught two TD passes to finish the season with 23, eclipsing the mark of 22 by San Francisco 49ers' Jerry Rice in 1987.

Most points in a season: The Patriots improved their total to 589 to top the record of 556 set in 1998 by the Minnesota Vikings.

Most touchdowns by a team in a season: The Patriots, who scored four touchdowns in the season finale, established a record of 75 touchdowns to beat the mark of 70 set by the 1984 Miami Dolphins.

Consecutive regular season wins by a team: Patriots won their 19th consecutive regular season game dating back to last season, breaking their NFL record of 18 set over the 2003 and 2004 seasons.