Seventeen years ago this Saturday, on October 18, 2009, snow fell on Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans 59-0. Tom Brady threw an NFL-record five touchdown passes in the second quarter alone, added a sixth in the third, and walked off with a 52-0 lead before rookie Brian Hoyer finished the scoring.
The margin tied the largest shutout since the AFL-NFL merger — matching the Los Angeles Rams’ 59-0 win over Atlanta on December 4, 1976 — and the 45-0 halftime lead remains the biggest in league history.
First quarter: the snow starts falling
Tennessee arrived 0-5. New England was 3-2 and coming off a loss. Under Bill Belichick the Patriots had become almost impossible to beat at home after a defeat: they were 20-1 in games following a loss since the start of 2003.
Laurence Maroney broke a 45-yard touchdown run early, and Stephen Gostkowski added a 33-yard field goal. Brady also hit Wes Welker for 48 yards — New England’s first play of 40-plus yards all season. At the end of one quarter it was already 10-0, and the weather was getting worse.
Second quarter: five touchdowns in 15 minutes
Then Brady put the game beyond reach. In roughly nine minutes of game clock he threw five scoring passes:
| Time left in Q2 | Play | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 9:56 | Randy Moss 40-yard TD from Brady | NE 17-0 |
| 8:59 | Moss 28-yard TD from Brady (Titans also flagged for roughing the passer) | NE 24-0 |
| 6:20 | Kevin Faulk 38-yard TD from Brady | NE 31-0 |
| 1:53 | Wes Welker 30-yard TD from Brady | NE 38-0 |
| 0:12 | Welker 5-yard TD from Brady | NE 45-0 |
Moss and Welker each scored twice in the quarter; Faulk took the middle one out of the backfield. Brady completed 19 of his first 20 passes on the afternoon and finished the half with 345 passing yards, a franchise record for a half. The Patriots’ 35 points in the quarter and 45 in the half were both club records. No team had ever taken a 45-point halftime lead; the previous biggest halftime margin was 42 points (Green Bay 49, Tampa Bay 7 on October 2, 1983).
Third quarter: one more for Moss, then Hoyer
Brady came back for the opening series of the second half and found Moss again, this time from nine yards, for his sixth touchdown pass of the day and a 52-0 lead. Moss finished with eight catches for 129 yards and three scores. Welker had 10 for 150. Maroney ran for 123.
On the next drive Belichick turned the game over to undrafted rookie Brian Hoyer, who was making his NFL debut. Hoyer went 9-of-11 for 52 yards and capped a 12-play, 61-yard march with a one-yard rush. Final: 59-0. New England never scored in the fourth; Hoyer drove deep again and turned it over on downs.
What still stands
| Record / milestone | Detail |
|---|---|
| Most TD passes in one quarter (NFL) | Brady, 5 (second quarter) |
| Largest post-merger shutout margin (tied) | 59 points — also Rams 59, Falcons 0 (Dec. 4, 1976) |
| Largest halftime lead (NFL) | 45-0 |
| Patriots points in a game | 59 (franchise record; previous 56) |
| Patriots total net yards | 619 (franchise record; 426 pass, 193 rush) |
| Brady in the game | 29-of-34, 380 yards, 6 TD (tied career high) |
New England forced five turnovers and did not give one back. The Titans fell to 0-6. Brady, Moss and Welker remained undefeated together at Gillette. Seventeen years later, no quarterback has thrown more than five touchdown passes in a single quarter.
Even in a blowout, personal fouls still move the chains — the Titans were flagged for roughing the passer on Moss’s second score. Another 15-yard personal foul that still decides drives every Sunday is the horse-collar tackle. For how that rule works under the 2026 Official Playing Rules, read the WhyNFL guide: Horse-collar tackle explained.
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