Just like that, the Patriots are back in the playoff hunt. After a 2-5 start, New England is in the thick of things in a crowded AFC race with four wins in the last five, capped by a 45-0 annihilation of the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
It was complete domination on all sides: the offense scored 28 points, the defense pitched a shutout and picked off Justin Herbert twice, and the special teams scored two touchdowns on a punt return and a blocked field goal at the end of the first half. It was a classic Belichick-ian masterpiece: find your weakness (special teams), make a rookie quarterback's life a nightmare and exploit it over and over and over and over.
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Where does the 45-point margin rank in the annals of New England history? In short, pretty high up.
1) Patriots 59, Titans 0 (2009): It was snowy, it was cold, and it was tied for the largest victory in NFL history. It started with a 45-yard touchdown from Laurence Maroney and snowballed (pun intended) from there for Tennessee. Tom Brady threw five second-quarter touchdowns, added a sixth to open the third and New England tied the 1976 Rams as the only teams in league history to win by 59 points.
The passing stats from that day? Tom Brady: 29-of-34, 380 yards, 6 TDs, 0 INTs before sitting. Vince Young/Kerry Collins combined: 2-of-14, negative-7 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs.
2) Patriots 56, Jets 3 (1979): The pre-Brady/Belichick Patriots didn't have much positive history, outside of its lone Super Bowl appearance in 1996. But they were decent in the mid-to-late '70s, with Steve Grogan and John Hannah leading the charge. In an early season game against the Jets, they tormented New York. Grogan completed 13 passes for 315 yards (that's 24 yards per catch) and five touchdowns, including three to Harold Jackson. The defense forced six Jets turnovers and held New York to 134 yards of total offense. It's the biggest loss in New York's history, but they actually got revenge later in the year, besting the Pats 27-26 in Week 15.
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3) Patriots 56, Bills 10 (2007): In midst of a 16-0 regular season, the well-oiled machine kept chugging along in a November trip to Buffalo. Randy Moss caught four touchdowns in the first half, Brady threw five TDs as a whole, and the defense forced two turnovers, capping the day with an Ellis Hobbs scoop-and-score. It remains the biggest loss in Bills history.
4) Patriots 52, Washington 7 (2007): Three weeks before embarrassing Buffalo, the Pats did the same to Washington. Brady mixed things up for the fun of it -- while he threw three touchdowns, he ran for two more. The defense held Washington to 177 total yards and returned another fumble for a score, one of four turnovers forced on the day. Only a garbage time touchdown with 3:00 left prevented a shutout.
5) Patriots 45, Chargers 0 (2020): What's perhaps most impressive about this 45-point victory is that the offense wasn't even that good. Cam Newton and Jarrett Stidham combined to complete just 14-of-22 passes for 126 yards, while the Pats had 43 carries for 165 yards (a 3.8 average). In fact, Los Angeles nearly out-gained New England (291-258 was the final margin), but the defense and special teams was too much in the blowout.
6) Patriots 43, Dolphins 0 (2019): We finish up by re-living last year's blowout. After dominating the Steelers 33-0 in Week 1, New England followed it up with a 43-0 demolition of Miami. Tom Brady threw for a pair of scores - including one to Antonio Brown in his only game as a Patriot - while the defense returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the third quarter. As a whole, they picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen four times. But like the Jets in 1979, the Dolphins would regroup and, in Week 17, stunned New England 27-24, knocking the Patriots out of a first-round bye in the playoffs, forcing them to play the Titans.