Here’s the release from the New England Patriots about QB Tom Brady being named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced today that Tom Brady has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week by the National Football league for his performance in the Patriots’ 27-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins last Saturday. It is the 20th time in his career and the third time in 2011 that Brady has received the AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor. He earned the honor for his performance in Week 1 and Week 2 of the 2011 season after throwing for 517 yards in the season-opener at Miami followed by a 423-yard performance vs. San Diego.
Brady completed 27 of 46 passes for 304 yards against the Dolphins, including a touchdown pass to WR Deion Branch. Brady also scored on two 1-yard touchdown runs. After falling behind 17-0 at halftime, Brady helped rally the Patriots by completing 20-of-27 passes for 217 yards in the second half and led the Patriots on five straight scoring drives. It was Brady’s 44th career 300-yard game and his career-high 10th 300-yard game of the 2011 season. After throwing for 304 yards against the Dolphins and 4,897 yards through the first 15 games, Brady needs 103 yards in the final game to join Drew Brees (5,087 in 2011 and 5,069 in 2008) and Dan Marino (5,084 in 1984) as the only players to reach 5,000 passing yards in a single season.
It is the sixth Player of the Week honor for the Patriots in 2011. Brady was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week following the first two games of the season at Miami on Sept. 12 and vs. San Diego on Sept. 18, Andre Carter was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week following the win at the Jets on Nov. 13, Julian Edelman was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week following the win vs. Kansas City on Nov. 21, and Rob Gronkowski was named AFC Offensive Player of the week following the win at Washington on Dec. 11.
Brady also was honored as AFC Offensive Player of the Month for November by the National Football League. Brady led New England to a 3-1 record in November, including 300 yard performances in three of the four games. For the month, Brady completed 93 of 149 passes (62.4 percent) for 1,266 yards with 10 touchdowns and a 106.3 passer rating. Brady’s 1,266 passing yards led the NFL for the month and his 10 touchdown passes ranked first in the AFC and tied for second in the NFL in November.
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