Voting is now open for FedEx Air & Ground Players of the Year, with the winner being announced during the star-studded football and entertainment event "NFL Honors" in San Francisco on Feb. 6 on CBS the night before Super Bowl 50.
Each week leading up to "NFL Honors", we'll take a look at monumental games during the 2015 season for one FedEx Air and one FedEx Ground Player of the Year nominee. This week, we'll kick it off with two veteran players who are racing up the NFL's record books.
Tom Brady, New England Patriots
One Look Back to Week 2:
Patriots 40, Bills 32
Brady threw for a season-high 466 yards and three touchdowns as the Patriots improved to 26-3 against the Buffalo Bills since Brady became New England's starting quarterback in 2001. Brady was an egalitarian passer that afternoon, as four Patriots players had at least 85 yards receiving: Rob Gronkowski (113), Dion Lewis (98), Julian Edelman (97) and Aaron Dobson (87). Brady started the season on quite a tear. In throwing for seven touchdowns with no interceptions through two weeks of play, he became the eighth quarterback in NFL history to do so (joining Peyton Manning in 2013, Drew Bledsoe in 1997, Brett Favre in 1996, Dave Krieg in 1985, Phil Simms in 1984, Don Meredith in 1966 and Milt Plum in 1962). Brady didn't throw his first interception of the season until Week 6.
Brady finished the season with an NFL-best 36 touchdowns passing. This was the fourth time that Brady finished with 35 or more touchdowns passing in a season, and that tied Peyton Manning for the most 35-plus touchdown seasons in NFL history.
Doug Martin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
One Look Back to Week 11:
Buccaneers 45, Eagles 17
The Buccaneers boat-raced the Eagles to improve to 5-5 on the season (the first time Tampa Bay had been .500 or better after 10 games since 2012 -- the team finished 6-10), and Martin played a massive role. Martin carried the rock 27 times for 235 yards. Despite having runs of 84 and 58 yards, Martin managed to not reach paydirt. This was historic, as Martin finished just two yards short of tying Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders' record for most yards rushing without scoring a touchdown.
Martin finished second in the NFL in rushing yards in 2015 with 1,402, just 83 yards shy of Adrian Peterson's league-leading 1,485 yards. No Buccaneers player has ever led the league in rushing yards.