Category: drew brees

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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady couldn’t get it done against the Houston Texans in his team’s 28-22 loss on Sunday Night Football, but he did pad his personal stats in pursuit of NFL history with three touchdown passes. That helped his career total rise to 535, breaking a tie with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees at 532. They both trail retired all-time great Peyton Manning (539), and each passer has a shot at surpassing him before the regular season winds down.

It was just the third time this year in which Brady lobbed three or more touchdown passes; he had previously scored just 15 times through the air in his first 11 games. When Brees missed five games with an injury to his throwing hand, Brady struggled to take advantage of the opportunity, allowing Brees to tie everything up last week. Now it’s up to Brees to keep up the pace down the stretch.

There’s a lot of pressure for each quarterback to go out on top, because the winner will own bragging rights for most of the next decade. Their youngest, closest competition (36-year-old Aaron Rodgers, and almost-35-year-old Matt Ryan) would need to make big improvements for the next five or six years to seriously challenge them.

Here’s how the standings among active quarterbacks look in all-time touchdown passes:

• Tom Brady, 535
• Drew Brees, 532
• Philip Rivers, 391
• Ben Roethlisberger, 363
• Eli Manning, 362
• Aaron Rodgers, 360
• Matt Ryan, 315

We’ll see whether Brees can continue making up for lost time in the final quarter of the regular season. Brady was visibly frustrated with his receiving corps for much of Sunday’s game against the Texans, while Brees and the Saints have someone they can lean on in Michael Thomas, an MVP candidate. If someone can start to consistently make plays opposite Thomas (this is your time, Jared Cook) then Brees could very well claim that record first.

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Peyton Manning retired after the 2015 season on his own terms, having clinched the second Super Bowl victory that eluded him (and that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees had a hand in denying him, back in 2009) as well as the NFL’s record for career touchdown passes, with 539.

But that record won’t remain his forever. Brees is hot on his heels after lobbing a scoring pass to backup Saints quarterback Taysom Hill last Thursday against the Atlanta Falcons, putting him at 532 in his NFL career. That ties the mark for second-best set by New England Patriots legend Tom Brady, who will play the Houston Texans on Sunday Night Football.

That means Brady will have a chance to break his tie with Brees and gain further ground on Manning’s all-time lead. However, he’ll hardly have an easy go of it; flu season has hit New England hard, with 17 players listed as questionable to suit up in Houston. The Patriots even chartered a second airplane to travel cross-country and avoid further contamination between sick players and their (so far) healthy teammates.

Among Brady’s top receiving options, three will be dealing with injuries or the flu if they play at all. The list includes wide receivers Julian Edelman (shoulder), Phillip Dorsett (concussion), and Mohamed Sanu (ankle). With just five games left in the regular season, Brady has to score eight more touchdown passes to break Manning’s record — a rate of 1.6 per game. He’s averaged just 1.36 through his first 11 games, which opens the door for Brees to overtake him and possibly break the record first.

New Orleans only has four games left in the regular season, meaning Brees must average 2.0 touchdown passes per game to break the record. His five-game stint on the sidelines with an injury notwithstanding, the Saints quarterback has averaged 1.7 through seven starts this year. Take out his early exit against the Los Angeles Rams and that average rises to 2.0 per game, meaning the record is well within reach.

Whoever ends up setting this record before the other retires will likely hold onto it for quite some time. The only other active quarterbacks behind them are a gaggle of fringe Hall of Famers like Philip Rivers (389), Ben Roethlisberger (363), Eli Manning (362), Aaron Rodgers (356), and Matt Ryan (315), and each of them is closer to retirement than their prime.

As the youngest members on that list, Rodgers (who turns 36 on Monday) would need to average 2.3 touchdown passes per game for the next five years to break Manning’s record, while Ryan (who will be 35 in May) would have to average 2.34 for six years. Rodgers is only scoring 1.6 touchdown passes per game this season, and Ryan is scoring at a clip of 1.81 per game.

Those are some long odds, which only raises the pressure on Brees and Brady. Whoever ends up owning this record will have bragging rights that last nearly a decade.

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Peyton Manning retired from the NFL in 2016 as the league’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, having scored 539 times through the air in his lengthy career. That put him ahead of the former record-holder, Brett Favre (who set the previous high-water mark with 508, ahead of Dan Marino’s 420), by a sizable margin.

But records are meant to be broken. And two Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks have Manning’s accomplishment in their sights: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, and New England Patriots passer Tom Brady.

Here’s how the top five shapes up right now, though only Brees and Brady remain active:

1. Peyton Manning (539)
2. Tom Brady (531)
3. Drew Brees (528)
4. Brett Favre (508)
5. Dan Marino (420)

With just six games left to play in the 2019 regular season, both Brees and Brady may be hard-pressed to match Manning. Brees obviously missed out during his five-week recovery from thumb surgery, but Brady didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to put himself further ahead. The Patriots quarterback threw just seven touchdowns during the five games Brees sat out, and the Philadelphia Eagles defense held him without a touchdown pass in New England’s most recent win.

In order to break Manning’s record, Brady needs to throw nine touchdown passes in his next six games — an average of 1.5 per game. That may sound easy enough, but Brady has been limited to one touchdown pass or fewer in half the games he’s played this year. Brees has to connect on twelve throws into the end zone to do the same, a rate of two per game. He’s gone scoreless in two of his five starts this year. If they both come up short, well, there’s always next year.

When quarterbacks have accomplished as much as Brees and Brady have, it can be difficult to keep up with all of the records they’ve broken and those that are still up for grabs. But this is one competition fans can keep track of on a weekly basis, and it’s well worth watching. When Brees and Brady eventually hang up their cleats and start writing their Hall of Fame inductions speeches, all-time great records like this one are what fans will be using to debate for years to come.

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