Mr. Monday Night Football, Drew Brees, did it again on a national stage. The New Orleans Saints’ quarterback is the career leader in touchdown passes at 540, surpassing Peyton Manning in the second half of the Saints’ game with the Indianapolis Colts at the Superdome.
Manning had 539 in his career while Tom Brady is at 538 and counting.
Brees set the mark on the first drive of the third quarter. He found Josh Hill from 5 yards to set the mark … for the time being as Brady continues to play for the Patriots.
5️⃣4️⃣0️⃣@drewbrees is the all-time leader in passing touchdowns! 👏 #Saints
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Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/sWmUbeqQpz pic.twitter.com/U04iyNHtRx— NFL (@NFL) December 17, 2019
Your new All-Time Passing TD leader 👏👏👏@drewbrees | @Saints pic.twitter.com/2yQJeyPynl
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) December 17, 2019
Brees appeared to set the mark in the second quarter when he rolled right and found Tre’Quan Smith for a TD. However, the New Orleans WR was called for offensive pass interference on the play.
The Superdome crowd was unhappy despite New Orleans holding a 17-0 lead. It became more vocal toward the officials when Brees was unable to get the record on the next play and the Saints settled for a Will Lutz field goal on the final play of the half to make it 20-0.
Brees had connected with Michael Thomas from 15 yards to tie Brady and then knotted Manning with a 21-yard TD pass to Smith.
Smith had been the recipient of a TD pass in 2018 that made Brees the all-time pass leader. That came on this 62-yard play.
Brees also set the single season mark on a Monday night, breaking Dan Marino’s record in 2011. Brees’ final pass in a 45-16 home win over Atlanta Falcons saw him pass Marino’s mark of 5,084 yards for Miami Dolphins in 1984. Brees’s nine-yard pass to Darren Sproles with 2:51 remaining in the fourth quarter eclipsed one of the longest-standing individual records in NFL history.