Potential Team and Individual Records and Milestones for the 2011 Pats

John Morgan

Sep 12, 2011 at 3:13pm ET

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While Bill Belichick notes that stats are for losers, they can still be fun and interesting for us as sports fans to look at and discuss while waiting for a game to be played.  Here is a look at potential records and milestones for the Patriots, in both the NFL all-time leader board as well as the team's franchise rankings.

Note: all of these numbers and rankings refer to regular-season records unless specifically stated otherwise.

Team Records among NFL all-time leaders

The Pats should pass the Colts (.532) this season to move up one spot.

Total games won: 401, (16^th)

Not likely, but Pats could catch up to the Vikings (413). It will take a few years but the Pats should eventually surpass the Raiders (418) for most all-time wins among the ten former AFL teams.

Super Bowls won: 3, (four-way tie for 5^th)

With another Lombardi the Pats break their tie with the Giants, Redskins and Raiders, and tie the packers for 4^th most. That would also put them in a tie with the Lions and Colts for 9^th most championships overall.

Conference championships: 6, (tied for 3^rd with the Broncos)

One more places the Pats one behind the Steelers and Cowboys for the most all-time.

Bill Belichick

Current games coached: 256, (17^th)

At season end Belichick will be tied with Mike Holmgren for 12^th most games coached with 272, passing Bud Grant, Jeff Fisher, Weeb Ewbank and Steve Owen. Mike Shanahan, with 260 is the only active coach with more.

Wins: 162, (11^th)

An eleven-win season will push BB past Bill Parcells for 10^th most wins.

Winning percentage: .633, 17^th (50 or more games); 11^th (100 or more games); 5^th (200 or more games)

Probably no movement in this category this year, though he could move up a few spots over the next few seasons.

Games over .500: 68, (10^th)

An 11-5 season would give Belichick 74 more wins than losses, which would put him into 6^th place all-time along with Marty Schottenheimer while passing George Allen, Tony Dungy and John Madden along the way.

Years in the playoffs: 9, (3-way tie for 14^th)

Another playoff season puts Belichick and Andy Reid into a tie for 10^th most.

Games in the playoffs: 21, (tied with Bill Cowher for 7^th)

One more ties Bud Grant; three more would place him at 3^rd all-time with Joe Gibbs, Mike Holmgren and Chuck Noll.

Playoff wins: 15, (5^th)

Belichick needs one more to match Chuck Noll’s total; two more to tie Joe Gibbs; three more will equal Don Shula’s total; and four more would tie him with Tom Landry for the most in NFL history.

Conference championships: 4, (6-way tie for 3^rd)

Another conference championship would break the current tie with Gibbs, Grant, Noll, Marv Levy and Dan Reeves and tie Tom Landry for the 2^nd most all-time.

Super Bowls: 3, (3-way tie for 3^rd)

Another Super Bowl would give Belichick more than Joe Gibbs or Bill Walsh, and would tie him with Chuck Noll for the most in NFL history. It would also rank him as having the 5^th most championships, behind only Paul Brown, George Halas, Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.

Tom Brady

Passing Yards: 34,744 (19^th)

Brady needs 3404 yards to move past Jim Everett, Jim Kelly, Boomer Esiason and Dave Krieg in this category, which would put him in 15^th place assuming that Drew Brees (35,266) and Donovan McNabb (36,250) remain ahead of him.

Passing Touchdowns: 261 (10^th)

Brady’s first TD pass will break his tie with Krieg, and then he should surpass Joe Montana (273) and Vinny Testaverde (275) after that. A thirty-touchdown season would move him up the rankings to sixth place; Johnny Unitas had 290 and Warren Moon had 291.

Playoff Games Started: 18 (tied for 43^rd)

Three more would move Brady up to a tie for 8^th most with John Elway and five others.

Chad Ochocinco

Receiving Yards: 10,783 (27^th)

Number 85 needs just 217 yards to become the 25^th player with 11,000 career-receiving yards – though Reggie Wayne (10,748) probably gets there first. A 656-yard season would move him up to #22 overall (#23 if Wayne passes him), past Gary Clark, Joey Galloway, Keenan McCardell, Rod Smith and Mushin Muhammad.

Receiving Touchdowns: 66 (40^th)

Stanley Morgan is currently 29^th with 72; Ochocinco needs six TDs to equal that.

Receptions: 751 (28^th)

Right now Steve Largent ranks 20^th with 819, Chad needs 68 to match that total. That would place him ahead of Eric Moulds, James Lofton, Marshall Faulk, Keyshawn Johnson, Henry Ellard and Shannon Sharpe. 49 catches gives him 800 for his career, a feat accomplished by only 23 others at this point.

Wes Welker ranks 98^th in NFL history with 528 receptions. Welker needs 72 receptions for a career total of 600, something that only 55 players have accomplished in the history of the NFL.

Shaun Ellis ranks 65^th all-time with 72.5 sacks; 58 players have reached a total of 75 and 53 have 80 or more.  Andre Carter ranks 75^th with 66 sacks; with four more he could become the 70^th player with at least 70 sacks.

Team Franchise Rankings and Milestones

Tom Brady already holds just about every franchise record for quarterbacks except for one: games played. Steve Grogan played in 149 games; Brady will break that team record in week five.

Brian Hoyer needs 24 completions to become the 22^nd player with at least 50 completed passes, and 8 passes to become the 23^rd player with at least 50 pass attempts.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis needs 71 rushes to become the 19^th player with 400 carries; 171 would make him the 16^th to carry the ball 500 times. With 603 yards he will become the 18^th player with 2000 yards rushing; 838 yards would move him up to 15^th all-time. He’s already tied for 10^th all-time with Mosi Tatupu with 18 rushing touchdowns; six more moves him past Laurence Maroney, Antowain Smith and Don Calhoun into 7^th place. Sam Cunningham is the all-time leader with 5453 rushing yards, and Jim Nance’s record of 45 career rushing touchdowns is still intact – forty years since he played with the Pats.

Danny Woodhead needs 453 yards rushing to become the 27^th player in Pats history with 1000 yards running the ball in a Pats’ uniform.

Wes Welker needs 59 receptions to pass Ben Coates for 3^rd place in the Pats’ record book, and 68 to become the third player with 500 career receptions; he is 125 behind Troy Brown’s club record of 557. With 54 yards receiving Welker can pass Gino Cappelletti’s career receiving yard total, which would put him in 7^th place in that ranking. Welker enters the season with 4536 yards receiving with New England; with 936 yards he would also pass Terry Glenn, Jim Colclough and Ben Coates for 4^th place on that list. Stanly Morgan is the franchise leader in this category with 10,352 yards, as well as in touchdown receptions with 67.

Deion Branch needs 550 yards receiving to become the ninth player with 4000 yards; which would move him past Kevin Faulk and Randy Moss. Right now he is tied with Tony Collins for 10^th place with 261 receptions; with 39 more he passes Colclough and Cappelletti to become the eighth player with 300 catches. Branch’s next touchdown catch will make him the 15^th Patriot with at least twenty in their career; three more after that equals the total Randy Vataha had, who is 10^th right now with 23.

Rob Gronkowski needs six touchdown receptions to move into the top twenty on the Pats’ career leader board in that category, which is amazing considering that this is just his second year in the NFL. With 463 receiving yards he becomes the 43^rd player with 1000 yards receiving with the Pats. Others within reach of that 1000-yard mark are Aaron Hernadez, who needs 437 yards, and Julian Edelman, who needs 555 yards.

Stephen Gostkowski can move past John Smith into 3^rd place for Field Goals made this season; Ghost enters the year with 113 and Smith had 128, but he’s got a long ways to go for the club record; Adam Vinatieri is the franchise leader with 263.