October 3, 2021: Tom Brady Breaks the NFL Record for Games by a Non-Kicker

October 3, 2021: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New England Patriots, 19-17 at a rainy Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Tom Brady, 44 years old, starting for the Bucs, whom he'd led to to win the previous season's Super Bowl, against the team he'd led to win 6 of them, through means both legal and otherwise, completed 22 out of 43 passes for 269 yards. No touchdown passes, but no interceptions, either.

It was the 304th regular-season game of Brady's career, setting a new record for a non-kicker. The previous record was set from 1985 to 2004, by Jerry Rice. Some people, unwilling to accept the fact that Brady is known to have cheated and gotten caught more than once, believe him to be the greatest quarterback of all time. Rice is, beyond any doubt, the greatest receiver of all time. Both have been put forward as the greatest player of all time, regardless of position.

But Brady's work in this game wasn't enough. The Bucs needed Ryan Succop, who kicked 4 field goals, including a 48-yarder with 1:57 left to play, that proved to be the winning margin.

Brady played the rest of the 2021 season, and 2022, before retiring at 45, having played in 335 games, plus another 48 in the postseason, including a record 10 Super Bowls, winning a record 7 of them.

But then, how do we know any of it was real?

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October 3, 2021 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-21 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The New York Jets beat the Tennessee Titans, 27-24 at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 42-30 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Football Team (not yet having changed their name to the Commanders) beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-30 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Miami Dolphins, 27-17 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers, 36-28 at AT&T Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Houston Texans, 40-0 at the old Highmark Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium and Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 24-14 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Minnesota Vikings, 14-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat the Denver Broncos, 23-7 at now Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Rams, 37-20 at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, 28-21 at Levi’s Stadium outside San Francisco in Santa Clara, California.

* The preceding Thursday, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-21 at Paul Brown Stadium (now Paycor Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* And the following night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, in a matchup that used to be something of a rivalry, and perhaps could be again, the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Las Vegas Raiders, 28-14 at SoFi Stadium, which ended up hosting 2 NFL games in a span of 5 days.

And it was the last day of Major League Baseball's regular season. These games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0 at the new Yankee Stadium. (It wasn't quite "new" anymore, but then, neither was the "new" Soldier Field.) How many Yankees does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout at home? Would you believe, 6? Jameson Taillon allowed 2 hits in 3 1/3rd innings, Wandy Peralta 1 in 1 1/3rd, Clay Holmes none in 1, Chad Green 1 in 1, Jonathan Loáisiga 1 in 1 1/3rd, and Aroldis Chapman none in 1.

The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 9th. Rougned Odor led off with a single. Tyler Wade was sent in to pinch-run for him. Gleyber Torres flew out. Anthony Rizzo singled. And, on the one and only pitch he ended up throwing, Andrew Kittredge gave up a ground ball to Aaron Judge, and, unable to throw home in time, gave up the winning run. Not the distance one would expect from Judge, but the result.

The Yankees still finished 8 games behind the Rays in the American League Eastern Division, but needed that game to get them home-field advantage over the hated Red Sox for the AL Wild Card Playoff. It did them no good: Two days later, the Sox beat them, 6-2.

* The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-0 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia. How many Braves pitchers does it take to pitch a 3-hit shutout at home? Would you believe, 6? But after giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, including a home run by Jorge Soler, Met manager Luis Rojas gave up on starter Noah Syndergaard. The Mets finished under .500 and missed the Playoffs, while the Braves ended up winning the World Series.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals, 7-5 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4 at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 12-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-2 at Guaranteed Rate Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Chicago Cubs were leading their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 after 7 innings at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, when the game was called due to rain, making the Cubs the winners.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers, 6-0 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. How many Indians does it take to pitch a 4-hit shutout? In this case, 5. After 107 seasons, this was the last game the Cleveland franchise played under the Indians name. When they debuted the next season, it was under the name of the Cleveland Guardians.

* The Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 11-4 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

* And the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-3 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.

January 1, 2006: The Flutie Dropkick

January 1, 2006: The Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots, 28-26 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. Standings-wise, this regular-season finale doesn't make much of a difference: The Pats finish 10-6, and had already clinched the AFC Eastern Division title; while the 'Phins finish 9-7, and missed the Playoffs.

The game was in doubt until the end, as the Patriots scored a touchdown on the final play, but the 2-point conversion failed. Had they gotten it, and then won in overtime, it would only have moved them up 1 seed in the Playoffs.

With 6:10 left in the game, the Patriots were down 25-13, when Matt Cassel, substituting for Tom Brady, threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tim Dwight. Then, instead of a standard point-after-touchdown attempt, Doug Flutie, executed a dropkick for the extra point, closing them to within 25-20. (Had he tried a dropkick from scrimmage, it would have been a field goal, and 3 points.)

It was the 1st dropkick attempted, let alone converted, in the NFL in 64 years, since Ray "Scooter" McLean of the Chicago Bears did it in the 1941 NFL Championship Game, with the Bears beating the New York Giants.

Flutie, who grew up in nearby Natick, Massachusetts, starred at Boston College, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1984. But NFL teams literally looked down on him, thinking him too short to play quarterback at the professional level: Both the Bears and his "hometown" Patriots briefly tried him and let him go.

He starred in the Canadian Football League, and was finally welcomed back, leading first the Buffalo Bills, and then the San Diego Chargers, to the Playoffs. Still, he was let go by both teams. The Patriots picked him up as a backup to Brady, and this would be his last NFL game. He was 43 years old.

The Patriots beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1st round of the Playoffs, before losing to the Denver Broncos.

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January 1, 2006 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played:

* The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 30-26 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.

* The Washington Redskins beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 31-20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Panthers beat their arch-rivals, the Atlanta Falcons, 44-11 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Tennessee Titans, 40-13 at Alltel Stadium (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-13 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 35-21 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens, 20-16 at Cleveland Browns Stadium (now Huntington Bank Field).

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Arizona Cardinals, 17-13 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks, 23-17 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears, 34-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys, 20-10 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Houston Texans, 20-17 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Joe Nedney kicked a 33-yard field goal with 3:52 left in overtime.

* The day before, New Year's Eve, December 31, 2005, the New York Giants beat the Oakland Raiders, 30-21 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* Also the day before, the Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 23-7 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

There was no Monday Night Football game in this last week of the regular season.

As usual, when New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the NCAA pushed the traditional New Year's Day game back to January 2.

Baseball was out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The Miami Heat beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 97-70 at the American Airlines Arena (now the Kaseya Center) in Miami.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 98-94 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 100-94 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.

And there were 3 games played in the NHL: 

* The Atlanta Thrashers beat the Washington Capitals, 5-2 at the MCI Center (now the Capital One Arena) in Washington.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 at the HSBC Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* And the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena) in Nashville.