Drew Brees overtakes Tom Brady in search of Peyton Manning’s record

The race for Peyton Manning’s career touchdowns record is heating up between New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and Patriots passer Tom Brady.

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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees turned in a vintage performance against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, lobbing five touchdown passes and turning in another one on a goal-line leap over the top. It was enough to raise his career total to 537 touchdown passes, putting him ahead of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (536) as both living legends compete for the record Peyton Manning set (539) before his 2016 retirement.

Brees has to throw three touchdowns in his final three games to break Manning’s record, while Brady has to complete four scoring throws in his three games. Here’s who each quarterback will play to close out the regular season:

Drew Brees’ final opponents

  • Week 15 vs. Indianapolis Colts
  • Week 16 at Tennessee Titans
  • Week 17 at Carolina Panthers

Tom Brady’s final opponents

  • Week 15 at Cincinnati Bengals
  • Week 16 vs. Buffalo Bills
  • Week 17 vs. Miami Dolphins

While Brady’s receiving corps has been horrific this season — so bad that he couldn’t even build a significant lead on Brees in the five games he missed with a thumb injury earlier this year — he could absolutely break the record against the Bengals on Sunday. What’s curious is that Brees is in position to break that record during Monday night’s game with the Colts. Would the NFL stop the Patriots-Bengals game to recognize Brady’s accomplishment (as they did when Brees broke Manning’s career passing yards record last year) and then do the same a day later? Godspeed to the NFL game day operations crew.

Whoever ends up winning this record before Brees and Brady both retire will probably hold onto it for a decade. Either of them could retire at any time and not really shock anyone, and the active quarterbacks behind them have so much ground to make up that it could reasonably take six or seven years to even challenge the new high-water mark. Here’s what the standings look like among the NFL’s top ten quarterbacks in career passing touchdowns:

  1. Drew Brees, 537
  2. Tom Brady, 536
  3. Philip Rivers, 394
  4. Ben Roethlisberger, 363
  5. Eli Manning, 361
  6. Aaron Rodgers, 361
  7. Matt Ryan, 317
  8. Matthew Stafford, 256
  9. Russell Wilson, 222
  10. Joe Flacco, 218

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