Sweet 16! Hunter Henry Joins Elite Birthday Group in New England Patriots' Win

Hunter Henry's two birthday party favors paved the path to a rare New England Patriots victory.

To deal with the gloom and doom of company downsizing, Michael Scott threw a birthday party at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company's Scranton branch. 

The New England Patriots employed a similar tactic on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. Depending on the fanbase's various points of view, it was either the remedy the reeling Patriots needed or set the franchise on a dangerous course.

Draft positioning be damned, the Patriots got back on the left side of the standings column on Thursday night, earning a 21-18 upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium. A surprisingly spry offensive battle defined the first half, as New England (3-10) built an early, eternal lead with three scores over the first half-hour. It was a downright deluge on the scoreboard after the Patriots put up only 26 points over the past three weekends combined. 

Henry (foreground) celebrates with Tyquan Thornton after scoring one of his two touchdowns on Thursday / Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

The latter two landed in the arms of Hunter Henry, who celebrated his 29th birthday in style: Henry became just the 16th player in NFL history (and first Patriot) to score multiple touchdowns through the air on his birthday and the first to do so since Philadelphia's DeVonta Smith in November 2021. Others to do so include Bob Hayes, Isaac Bruce, Terrell Owens, and Jimmy Graham.

With Kendrick Bourne injured, Henry is the only active player on the New England roster to earn multiple receiving touchdowns, leading the team with five. Thursday marked Henry's first multi-touchdown game since a December 2021 loss to Indianapolis.

In the postgame aftermath, Henry was more enthused about the Patriots' victory than he was about his birthday. 

"I think the win was obviously the most important thing. Gosh, it feels good, man" Henry said in video from NBC Sports Boston. "It's been a hard stretch, a hard year, not been what we wanted at all. But this is a great step in the right direction. We were out there playing complementary football. We did some things in the second half that we need to clean up but coming up with the win was huge."

Even if Henry didn't feel like celebrating his birthday, quarterback Bailey Zappe was more than happy to bring the party to him: after his first score, one that put New England up 14-3, Zappe placed imaginary birthday candles on the football and invited Henry to blow them out.

True to the theme of selflessness, however, Henry felt that the opening score, an 11-yard scoring pass from Zappe to Ezekiel Elliott meant more in the long run.

WATCH: Zeke Scores TD for Patriots vs. Steelers

“We started fast,” Henry told Amazon Prime Video sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung after the game. “That was a good change for us. We came out fast and put some points on the board. Play from ahead, that’s what we’ve been wanting to do. Being able to execute that tonight in a hostile environment was big for us.”

Henry and the Patriots will return to action on Dec. 17 when they host the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium (1 p.m. ET, Fox).

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