Tom Brady breaks another NFL record, bolsters MVP argument as Patriots sew up No. 1 seed

One of the accepted marks of a good quarterback is touchdown-to-interception ratio. Two-to-1 is sound. Three-to-1 is strong. Five-to-1, stellar.

So what would 14-to-1 be?

With three touchdowns and no interceptions in the New England Patriots’ 35-14 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Tom Brady ended the season with 28 touchdowns and just two picks, the highest single-season TD-to-INT ratio mark in NFL history. Nick Foles’ out-of-nowhere 27-to-2 2013 season with the Eagles was the previous high-water mark.

The Patriots’ win gave them a 14-2 record for the season and allowed them to sew up the No. 1 seed in the AFC for the playoffs. It is the sixth time in team history they’ve been the top seed in the conference (2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014); they advanced to the Super Bowl four of the previous five times, and won the Super Bowl in two of those years.

New England has won seven straight games, outscoring opponents 200-87 during the run.

It was expected that the Patriots would win in Miami, though the Dolphins are in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. What wasn’t entirely expected was how well Brady would play after coming back from his four-game suspension for the deflate-gate saga.

He has always played well, but he’s 39 now, and while Patriots fans far and wide were proclaiming that Brady would lead a scorched-earth tour to stick it to the rest of the league, there was no given that things would work out that way.

Handed a 3-1 record thanks to his backups, Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Jacoby Brissett, Brady led New England to an 11-1 mark, the only loss coming Nov. 13 against the Seahawks. It was in that game that Brady threw one of his interceptions; the second came in Week 14, against the Ravens.

Both of those came in home games, too, which gave Brady another, more obscure league record: most road passes in a season without a pick. Adding in the 33 attempts he had on Sunday, Brady had 254 attempts in seven road games.

Has he done enough to secure a third Most Valuable Player award? That remains to be seen. A lot may depend on how many voters (the MVP award given by the NFL at the annual Honors event is selected by 50 Associated Press-chosen voters) hold Brady’s suspension against him.

But in 12 games, Brady completed 291 of 432 passes (67.4 percent) for 3,554 yards, 28 touchdowns and two interceptions. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, Dallas Cowboys rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott, and depending on what happens Sunday night, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, all have solid arguments as well.