Patriots receiver Jakobi Meyers celebrates his first career touchdown with his teammates late in the Patriots' rout of Cleveland on Sunday. (AP photo)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The number was 134. But on the 135th catch, Jakobi Meyers finally got that touchdown.

That was one of the highlights for the New England Patriots’ 45-7 rout of Cleveland Sunday at Gillette Stadium, but if you ask the players, they might tell you it was the biggest one.

“I think it was just the hightlight of the game,” fellow Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne said. “How it was all going, and then, to end that way with him getting his first, congrats to my guy. He’s been working so hard. He works hard every day and deserves it.”

Meyers caught an 11-yard pass from backup QB Brian Hoyer with 4:13 left to play. His 134 receptions without a score were the longest for a modern day NFL receiver.

“You know it’s crazy, honestly,” he said. “The fact that everybody celebrated with me means more than the touchdown. I feel like it says a lot about your teammates and what they think of you, and the just the fact they were all there. I know they’ve been waiting on that, they’ve been real patient.”

“I told him today, I was like, you’re going to score’ before the game – I didn’t know it was going to come from Hoyer,” Jones said laughing. “It was great. I was super excited. We were out together and the ball – I was so concerned about the ball. … I guess they found it. That was good. But I think Jakobi is a great teammate and he’s a great team player and that’s much deserved and he’s going to get more. From here, hopefully, we just keep stacking them up and there will be a bunch.”

BROWN RETURNS

Offensive lineman Michael Onwenu was the odd man out in the starting offensive line when tackle Trent Brown was activated and saw extensive time Sunday.

“Yeah, well, we have a lot of good players there and it was good to get Trent back,” Pats coach Bill Belichick said. “We’ll see how things go going forward. It was good to have Trent back out there.”

SMITH HEADS INACTIVES

The fact that the Patriots elevated tight end Matt Lacosse from the practice squad should have been a hint that Jonnu Smith’s shoulder would keep him out, and that was indeed the case on Sunday as he headed up the inactive list along with fellow injured Patriots back Damien Harris and Gunner Olszewski (concussion protocols).

Also out for the Patriots were third string QB Jarrett Stidham, cornerback Shaun Wade, linebacker Ronnie Perkins, and offensive lineman Yasir Durant.

Inactive for Cleveland were defensive tackle Sheldon Day, corner Greedy Williams, safeyt Richard LeCounte III, linebacker Tony Fields, defensive end Takkaris McKinley, and wide receiver Ja’Marcus Bradley.

FALCONS NEXT

The Atlanta Falcons bring a little bit of a different problem to the table as the Patriots’ next opponent. One, the game is Thursday night in Atlanta, so there is travel with very short preparation. And two, the Patriots haven’t seen the Falcons since 2017.

“This is a team we don’t know very much about,” Belichick said. “Coach (Arthur) Smith has gone down there and really gotten things going down there (save for a 43-3 loss to Dallas on Sunday). … We’ve got a long way to go on the Falcons and what they do, even though we’re familiar with Coach Smith (formerly of Tennessee) and Coach (defensive coordinator Dean) Pees.

“We did some work in the off-season and we know, of course, this was gong to be a short week so we tried to prepare for some off-season work on the Falcons but it appears that that’s not going to be all that – it will be relevant but not all that relevant.”

NOTES

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said that QB Baker Mayfield could have gone back in after injuring his knee in the second half but the coach opted to keep him out…

Sunday was the Patriots’ 1,000th game, as they become the first original AFL team to reach that milestone. The breakdown is 942 regular season and 58 playoff games…

Belichick Sunday became the fourth NFL coach to reach 250 wins with one team, tying Tom Landry with that total…

Patriots linebacker Matt Judon tied his career high, as he now has 9.5 sacks on the season…

The Patriots put together a 99-yard scoring drive on Sunday, their first since a 10-play march vs. San Diego on Sept. 18, 2011. Since 2000 they have three 99-yard drives.

After Atlanta on Thursday Night, the Patriots will host Tennessee at Gillette at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28.