Throwback Thursday: Patriots destroy Redskins 52-7 on way to 16-0 season

The Washington Redskins come to Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2007, when New England took Washington's head, put it in a meat grinder and won 52-7. This was en route to a perfect regular season that...well, you know.

In honor of the upcoming game on Sunday, let's take a look back to that late October match up.

The Redskins came into this contest sitting at 4-2 after beating the lowly Arizona Cardinals 21-19 the week prior. The team was quarterbacked by Jason Campbell, who was in his second season at the time and showed some flashes, but he never really put anything consistent together.

The Redskins did have a bit of star power, though. On defense they were led by London Fletcher and Sean Taylor, and Clinton Portis and Santana Moss were big offensive weapons.

However, being that this was the 2007 season, this game was largely uneventful.

After a Redskins punt on their opening drive, Tom Brady took his dynamic offensive 90 yards down the field in a little over seven minutes for the first touchdown of the game. They wouldn't get on the board again until the middle of the second quarter, when Brady found Mike Vrabel for a two-yard touchdown pass, making it 14-0.

The game was basically over by halftime, as the Pats went into the break up 24-0. The Patriots kept pouring it on from there. They scored 14 points in both the third and fourth quarters and Brady stayed on his torrid pace, going 29/38 for 306 yards and three touchdowns.

Wes Welker led the team in receiving yards that day, hauling in nine passes for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Washington's loan score came late in the fourth quarter when Campbell found tight end Chris Cooley for 15 yards. Obviously by that point the game was very much over.

The most exciting play of the game (in my opinion, anyway) came when Campbell fumbled on a third-and-nine play in the third quarter. The ball was recovered by Toucher & Rich-favorite Roosevelt Colvin and returned for a touchdown.

The win improved New England's record to 8-0 on the year and 4-0. It set them up with an epic showdown of unbeatens with, you guessed it, the Indianapolis Colts.

The Redskins fell to 4-3 and wound up closing out the season 9-7 and lost in the wildcard round to the Seattle Seahawks, 35-14 with Todd Collins at quarterback.

With the way both teams are playing this year, it wouldn't be crazy to think Sunday's game could end up a lot like the 2007 game.

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