Patriots close in on perfect season

NFL:   The New England Patriots moved to within one game of a perfect regular season when they crushed the Miami Dolphins 28…

NFL:  The New England Patriots moved to within one game of a perfect regular season when they crushed the Miami Dolphins 28-7 last night to become the first NFL team to go 15-0.

Tom Brady passed for three touchdowns, two of them going to Randy Moss, in the historic win.

"It's great to be 15-0," the New England quarterback, who completed 18 of 33 passes for 215 yards, said.

"I thought it was a great first half and I thought we played really well. "In the second half we just didn't execute very well, certainly not the way we wanted to."

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The Patriots can join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only NFL teams to go undefeated in the regular season if they beat the New York Giants on Saturday.

"I think that would be a great accomplishment for this team," Brady said.

The Dolphins were 14-0 in 1972, six years before the NFL went to a 16-game schedule.

Miami were the last team to beat New England in the regular season, shutting out the Patriots 21-0 on December 10th, 2006 in Miami.

New England have since won 18 consecutive regular-season games, matching the league record of the 2003-2004 Patriots.

All of the Patriots' scoring came in the first half, which they led 28-0.

Moss caught passes of 11 and one yard to put New England ahead 14-0 against the Dolphins (1-14).

Laurence Maroney's 59-yard run made it 21-0 before Brady connected with Jabar Gaffney for a 48-yard TD pass.

The score gave the Patriots a record-breaking 71 touchdowns for the season. The 1984 Dolphins held the previous record of 70.

It was also Brady's 48th touchdown pass this season, one short of Peyton Manning's 2004 record.

Moss, with 21 TD receptions this year, is also one shy of the NFL record, set in 1987 by Jerry Rice.