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Another modern-day NFL record was broken on October 12 when Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco threw the five fastest touchdown passes in history since NFL and AFL merged back in 1966. Flacco managed to connect on a career-high five TD passes in the first 17 minutes of the Ravens’ 48-17 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Flacco achieved the feat 12 minutes faster than anybody else as the fifth pass came in the second minute of the second quarter. No other quarterback has managed to connect on five TD passes until the first-half’s two-minute warning had sounded. Ben Roethlisberger held the previous record as he threw for five TDs in 28 minutes and nine seconds in a game against Baltimore in 2007.

Flacco threw for four TD’s just once before in his career in 101 starts and he matched that number in the first quarter against Tampa Bay. It was just the 13th time Flacco has thrown more than three TD passes in a contest. When he threw the fifth TD pass just 16 minutes and three seconds had elapsed in the game. At that time, he was on pace to connect on 18 TD passes over the four quarters as he had thrown a TD pass every three minutes and 12 seconds on average.

However, little did Flacco and the Ravens know that all of his scoring would be completed so early in the game. He more or less went the final three quarters without connecting on another TD pass. He entered the contest with just seven TD passes in his first five games of the season and left it with 12 in six games.

In Baltimore’s first five outings, Flacco went through a game with no TD passes, had two games with one pass, one game with two passes and one game with three TD passes. Still, while Flacco’s numbers heading into the game against Tampa weren’t outstanding, he threw more TD passes in the game than the Minnesota Vikings, Jake Locker, and Andy Dalton had in the first five weeks of the season.

Also in 2012, the year which Flacco managed to win the Super Bowl, the threw just four TD passes between September 27 and November 10 of the season. While Flacco had an excellent game against Tampa, he isn’t the only Ravens quarterback to throw five TDs in one outing. Tony Banks did it first back in the second week of the 2000 season when Baltimore beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 39-36.