What You Need to Know About the New England Patriots in the 2015 NFL Playoffs

Editor’s Note: Information in this article was provided by Patriots Media Relations.

The New England Patriots finished the 2015 regular season with a 12-4 record for the fourth straight season. The Patriots clinched a bye in 2015 for an NFL-record sixth-straight season and lead the NFL with 11 first-round byes since the current NFL playoff format was instituted in 1990.

Who will the Patriots Play?

As the No. 2 seed in the AFC, New England will host either the Cinncinatti Bengals (3), Houston Texans (4), and Kansas City Chiefs (5). After the wild card round, the lower seed will go to New England while the higher seed will face Denver. The Patriots first playoff game is scheduled for Jan. 16 at 4:35 p.m.

What to Watch for in the 2015 NFL Playoffs

TEAM

• The New England Patriots (28) need two more postseason victories to become the fifth team in NFL history with 30 postseason wins, joining Dallas (34), Pittsburgh (33), Green Bay (31) and San Francisco (30).
• The Patriots (4) can tie the Oakland Raiders (5) for most consecutive conference championship game appearances. The Raiders appeared in the AFC Championship Game for five straight seasons from 1973-77.
• New England (8) can break a tie with Dallas and Pittsburgh for most Super Bowl berths in NFL history.

ROBERT KRAFT

• Robert Kraft (24) needs one more postseason win to move out of a third-place tie with the Mara family for postseason wins by an ownership group, behind 33 by the Rooney family and 31 by Green Bay.

BILL BELICHICK

• Bill Belichick has won four Super Bowls as a head coach and needs one more championship to pass Chuck Noll for most Super Bowl wins in NFL history.
• Belichick (9) can tie Tom Landry (10) for most conference championship game appearances by a head coach.
• Belichick (6) needs to earn one more Super Bowl berth to pass Don Shula for most appearances all-time.

TOM BRADY

• Tom Brady is currently tied in second place with Jerry Rice with 29 career postseason appearances and needs to play in one more playoff game to tie Adam Vinatieri for the all-time lead with 30 postseason appearances.
• Brady’s eight 300-yard postseason passing performances are one behind Peyton Manning’s nine, good for most in NFL history.
• Brady (8) needs one more playoff game with three-or-more touchdown passes to tie Joe Montana (9) for most three-plus TD playoff games since the NFL merger.
• Brady (4) needs one more Super Bowl victory to break a tie with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for most Super Bowl wins by a quarterback in NFL history.
• If Tom Brady (3) wins one more Super Bowl MVP Award, he will pass Joe Montana for most Super Bowl MVP Awards in NFL history.

STEPHEN GOSTKOWSKI

• Stephen Gostkowski (117) is tied with Adam Vinatieri for most postseason points in team history. H Gostkowski currently sits in seventh place with 117 career postseason points, nine points behind Emmitt Smith and Thurman Thomas.

Quick Hits

Team

• The Patriots will look to become the ninth team to repeat as Super Bowl champions and the first team to do so since New England won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004. The Patriots will try to match Pittsburgh as the only other NFL team with back-to-back Super Bowl wins two separate times.
• The 2015 Patriots can match the Oakland Raiders (1973-1977) as only the second team in NFL history to advance to five straight conference championship games.
• The Patriots have won seven straight division titles (2009-15) to match the Los Angeles Rams (1973-79) for the most consecutive division titles in NFL history.

Bill Belichick

• Bill Belichick (6) needs to reach one more Super Bowl as a head coach to break a tie with Don Shula (6) for the most conference titles.
• Belichick has four Super Bowl wins as a head coach to match Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll for the most wins. With one more Super Bowl win, Belichick will have the most wins by a head coach in Super Bowl history.
• Belichick has led the Patriots to 15 straight winning seasons, the second most consecutive winning seasons all-time to the 20 by Tom Landry.
• Belichick is the first head coach to lead his team to seven straight division titles (2009-15). Paul Brown (1950-55), Tom Landry (1966-71), Bud Grant (1973-78) and Chuck Noll (1974-79) all led their team to six straight division titles.
• Belichick has 13 division titles as a head coach to tie Tom Landry and Don Shula for 13, the most division titles among all head coaches.
• Bill Belichick (2007 and 2015) and Don Shula (1972 and 1984) are the only two head coaches to lead their teams to starts of 10-0 or better in the Super Bowl era.

Tom Brady

• Tom Brady has 172 career regular-season wins with the Patriots, the most wins by a starting quarterback with one team
• Brady is in his 16th season with the Patriots, tying former Patriots QB Steve Grogan (1975-90) for most seasons with the Patriots.
• Brady (428) became the fourth NFL player to ever reach 400 career touchdown passes on a second quarter TD pass vs. Jacksonville (9/27/15).
• Brady (36) reached 30 touchdown passes in 2015, to become just the fourth player in NFL history with at least 30 or more touchdown passes in six seasons.
• Brady (4,770) reached 4,000 passing yards in 2015 to become just the third player in NFL history with at least eight 4,000-yard passing seasons.
• Brady has now played in 225 career games with the Patriots, moving past Bruce Armstrong (212) for most games played in Patriots history. He has started in 223 games and moved past Armstrong (212) for most starts in Patriots history.
• Tom Brady made his 14th opening day start with the Patriots in 2015. The only NFL quarterbacks with more opening day starts with one team are John Elway (16 with Denver), Dan Marino (16 with Miami) and Brett Favre (15 with Green Bay).
• Tom Brady (2007 and 2015) and Peyton Manning (2005 and 2009) are the only Super Bowl era quarterbacks to lead their teams to two 10-0 or better starts to a season.

Stephen Gostkowski

• Stephen Gostkowski has led the NFL in scoring in each of the last four seasons (2012-15) after leading in 2015 with 151 total points. He becomes just the third NFL player to lead the NFL in scoring in at least four consecutive seasons, joining Don Hutson (1940-44) and Gino Cappelletti (1963-66).
• Stephen Gostkowski joins Don Hutson (5) and Gino Cappelletti (5) as the only NFL players to lead the NFL in scoring in five seasons. Gostkowski has led the NFL in scoring in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
• Gostkowski (276) moved past Adam Vinatieri (263) for the most field goals in team history.
• Gostkowski moved past Matt Stover (422) and is first in NFL history with 463 consecutive extra points.

Rob Gronkowski

• In 2015, Rob Gronkowski became the second Patriots player with 60 career touchdowns and the fifth NFL tight end with 60 touchdowns. He reached 60 touchdowns in 70 games, the fastest among all tight ends.
• Rob Gronkowski has 66 overall touchdowns and needs three touchdowns to move past Stanley Morgan (68) to become the all-time leader in touchdowns scored for the Patriots.
• Gronkowski (65) needs three receiving touchdowns to move past Stanley Morgan (67) to become the all-time leader in receiving touchdowns for the Patriots.
• Gronkowski became the seventh Patriots player to reach 5,000 receiving yards (5,555). He reached 5,000 yards in his 72nd NFL game to become the second fastest tight end to reach 5,000 yards. Kellen Winslow reached 5,000 yards in his 69th game.