Brady, Cushing and Royal take home AFC weekly honors

Sports Network | October 21, 2009

New York, NY (Sports Network) - New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing and Denver Broncos kick returner/punt returner Eddie Royal have been selected as the AFC's top players for Week 6 of the NFL season.

Brady helped engineer a record performance for the Patriots this past Sunday in a 59-0 blowout of Tennessee. New England set franchise marks in points scored, yards (619) and margin of victory, which was also the largest in the league since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970.

The quarterback himself earned the weekly offensive award, his 14th such career honor, for his part in the shellacking, throwing five touchdown passes in the second quarter alone to set an NFL record. He threw for 380 yards and six TDs in all on 29-of-34 attempts. His 345 passing yards in the first half set a club record and the five first-half TDs tied the franchise mark.

Cushing captured the defensive award after registering nine tackles, one interception, forcing two fumbles and defending two passes in a 28-17 win over Cincinnati. It was the Southern California product's first career interception in his rookie season, and led to his first career weekly honor. Cushing leads the Texans in tackles with 48 -- a number that also heads the list of all rookies in 2009.

Royal earned special teams honors for returning both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown in Denver's 34-23 triumph over division-rival San Diego on Monday night. The Broncos wideout became only the 11th player in league history to return both a punt and kickoff for TDs in the same game. Royal totaled 253 return yards in all to set a team record, with 158 coming on kick returns and 77 on punt returns.