These 3 Teams Just Made NFL History

09 Nov, 2015

The AFC has two. The NFC has one.

The three remaining undefeated teams – the New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals and Carolina Panthers – make up the most 8-0 teams in NFL history.

The Denver Broncos lost to the Indianapolis Colts to surrender their undefeated status, and the Carolina Panthers were the next closest to giving up that status, despite having a big lead against the Green Bay Packers before hanging on for a 37-29 win. The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Cleveland Browns 31-10 on Thursday night, and the New England Patriots beat the Washington Redskins 27-10 on Sunday.

Before this season, 21 teams had started 8-0 during the Super Bowl era and all of them made the playoffs with 12 advancing to the Super Bowl and eight winning the Super Bowl.

In the Panthers’ win, Cam Newton threw three touchdowns and ran for another, the 15th time in his young career he has thrown multiple touchdowns and run for a touchdown, becoming only the third player in NFL history with 15 such games. Steve Young had 17 and Fran Tarkenton had 16 games like that.

The Patriots stayed undefeated and have now scored in an NFL record-tying 31 straight quarters. LeGarrette Blount rushed 29 times for 129 yards, the second-most carries for a Patriots running back in a regular-season game in the last 10 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The Colts knocked the Broncos from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 27-24 win as Andrew Luck passed for 252 yards and two touchdowns. Luck now has 101 touchdowns tosses after 55 career games. Only Dan Marino (44 games), Kurt Warner (50) and Johnny Unitas (53) reached the 100-touchdown mark in fewer games.

The Colts also denied their former quarterback, Peyton Manning, from breaking Brett Favre’s all-time passing mark and win total. Manning came up 3 yards short and one win short, throwing an interception on his last pass of the game after 42-year-old Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning 55-yard field goal, the oldest kicker by five years to kick a game-winner that long in the fourth quarter, according to Elias.

Scout.com

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