FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — This was the history-making Tom Brady everyone remembers.
Brady threw six touchdown passes — five in one quarter, an NFL mark — and the Patriots sent the Tennessee Titans plummeting to a new low in their winless season with a 59-0 win on a snowy Sunday.
Brady threw those five passes in the second quarter and the Patriots built the biggest halftime lead in league history, 45-0.
The six touchdown throws tied Brady’s own Patriots record. And the 59-point margin matched the largest since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Los Angeles Rams’ 59-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons in 1976.
“Every week we’re learning something more about ourselves and what we can do,” Brady said. “There’s no doubt a game like this can give you a lot of confidence.”
The Patriots (4-2) gained a club-record 619 yards, with Brady completing 29-of-34 passes for 380 yards and matching the number of scoring passes he totaled in his first five games.
Sunday’s performance was, by far, his best of an inconsistent comeback year after a knee injury ended his 2008 season in the opener.
“Back to his old self,” said Wes Welker, who caught 10 passes for a career-high 150 yards and two touchdowns.
It was the worst game in what has become an increasingly terrible season for the Titans (0-6), who have lost their last three by 20, 22 and 59 points after posting the NFL’s best record, 13-3, last year.
They took their worst loss since they began play in 1960 as the Houston Oilers, eclipsing the 61-7 setback to Cincinnati in 1989.
“You never go into a game thinking it’s going to be like this,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “It’s just our day today.”
Brady’s historic second quarter: touchdown passes to Randy Moss of 40 and 28 yards, to Kevin Faulk of 38 yards, and to Welker of 30 and 5 yards.
Brady came back for the first series of the third quarter and threw a 9-yard scoring pass to Moss. Then Brian Hoyer, a rookie from Michigan State, took over and scored on a 12-play, 61-yard drive that lasted 7:42.
“I know the score got out of hand,” Belichick said, “but we were just trying to run our offense.”
In one 17-play stretch in the second quarter, the Titans gave up three scoring passes, lost two fumbles and an interception and even had a roughing-the-passer penalty on one of those touchdowns.
“I’ve been playing sports since I was 8,” Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said, “and never have I experienced something like that.”
