The Sports Xchange

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It was a milestone Sunday for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

Tom Brady, tying the franchise record by appearing in his 212th game, became the fourth quarterback to throw 400 touchdown passes and kicker Stephen Gostkowski set the NFL record for consecutive extra points as the unbeaten Patriots cruised to a 51-17 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I’ve been a part of so many great teams and played with so many great players,” said Brady, who also added touchdown pass No. 401 in his team’s third straight win. “I’ve always said I don’t care whether we run it in or throw it in as long as we score points, and we’re and winning it makes it fun for me.”

Gostkowski, who kicked three field goals, broke Matt Stover’s league record when he nailed his 423rd consecutive PAT for New England’s 37th point.

The Patriots (3-0) tied a franchise record with 35 first downs, scored all nine times they had the ball (before running out the clock late) and registered the most points ever scored against the Jaguars while piling up 471 yards of offense.

Running back LeGarrette Blount scored a career-high three touchdowns, all on 1-yard runs.

Brady, with his 66th 300-yard passing game, finished 33 of 42 for 358 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

The banged-up Jaguars (1-2) were as close as 10-3 in the second quarter but then got blown away in every department. Quarterback Blake Bortles finished 17 of 33 for 242 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

What we learned about the Jaguars:

1. The win over Miami may have been a bit misleading. The Jaguars went into Foxboro with a bunch of injuries and got blown out — New England scoring on all nine possessions in cruising to the 51-17 victory.

2. The running game just isn’t getting the job done. Jacksonville came into the game averaging 3.3 yards per carry and ran for 57 yards on 20 attempts to drop the average further.

3. They were helpless against Tom Brady. This is something the Jags will have in common with many teams this season as Brady goes through his little revenge tour against the NFL. “You can’t play out of your mind when you play them,” said linebacker Dan Skuta. “You have to be thinking and play that game with Brady. It’s difficult. They are very good.”

Etc:

–QB Blake Bortles, who came into Sunday’s game at New England hitting just 54 percent of his passes, with three touchdowns and two interceptions, was 17 of 33 for 242 yards, two scores and one pick. So, he is just 57 for 106 on the year. Bortles did throw two touchdown passes on Sunday. “I think we have a good group of guys that respond well to adversity,” he said. “I think there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that we didn’t show our best stuff today. We didn’t play good, I don’t think, at any position.”

–RB T.J. Yeldon ran for just 33 yards on 11 carries in the loss. In the first three games, he has carried 48 times for 154 yards, just 3.2 yards per carry.

–LB Paul Posluszny summed up his team’s 51-17 loss by saying, “It was a tough loss. We’re going to have to go back and take a look at it and see why we made all the mistakes we did. Obviously, we are playing against an elite football team and the best quarterback in the league, but we also made a ton of mistakes on our own. We’ll have to take a close look at it and figure out why we did that.”