Tag: touchdown passes

Who will catch Aaron Rodgers’ record-breaking touchdown?

Who will catch Aaron Rodgers’ record-breaking 443rd touchdown pass? Vote in our poll!

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has thrown 442 touchdown passes since entering the NFL as a first-round pick in 2005. His next touchdown pass – which could come Saturday against the Cleveland Browns – will set the new team record, passing Brett Favre.

On Dec. 30, 2007, Favre threw his final regular-season touchdown pass with the Packers to tight end Bubba Franks. Fourteen years later, Rodgers will get the chance to break his record on Christmas Day.

Over 17 seasons, Rodgers has thrown touchdown passes to a variety of different pass-catchers. He’s thrown 130 combined to Davante Adams and Jordy Nelson, who both have 65 scores from No. 12. Randall Cobb has 44. James Jones caught 41. Greg Jennings, who caught Rodgers’ first-ever touchdown pass, hauled in 38.

A full list of Rodgers’ touchdown passes can be viewed here.

But forget the past. The big question now: Who will catch the record-breaking score?

Adams, who leads the Packers with eight touchdown catches, has to be the most likely option, given his ability and incredible connection with Rodgers. But Matt LaFleur’s offense gets a lot of different eligible receivers on the field over a given game, making anyone on the roster a possible option for touchdown No. 443.

Who will catch Rodgers’ next touchdown? Vote below!

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Packers QB Aaron Rodgers has chance to get into top-5 all-time for TD passes this week

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers needs 4 touchdown passes against the Steelers to jump into the top-5 all-time in touchdown passes.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is within striking range of the top five all-time for touchdown passes in a career.

In fact, a big day against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday could get the job done.

Rodgers, now in seventh place with 418 touchdown passes, needs three to pass Dan Marino (420) for sixth place and four to pass Philip Rivers (421) for fifth place.

The Steelers have allowed six touchdown passes in three games this season. Rodgers threw three touchdown passes during each of his last two games against the Steelers, including Super Bowl XLV.

Rodgers could become the sixth quarterback to pass Marino’s long-standing record of 420 touchdown passes. The first was former Packers quarterback Brett Favre in 2007.

Rank Quarterback TD passes
1 Tom Brady 591
2 Drew Brees 571
3 Peyton Manning 539
4 Brett Favre 508
5 Philip Rivers 421
6 Dan Marino 420
7 Aaron Rodgers 418
8 Ben Roethlisberger 399

Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback of Rodgers’ opponent on Sunday, needs only one touchdown pass to join the 400-touchdown club, making a few milestones possible within the quarterback matchup at Lambeau Field.

Rodgers became the seventh quarterback in NFL history to reach 400 career touchdown passes last season. He needed only 193 games, making him the fastest quarterback in history to 400 touchdown passes.

His next goal is getting to 500 touchdown passes before 100 interceptions. He would need to throw 82 more touchdown passes before nine more interceptions to get it done.

Rodgers currently ranks third all-time in passer rating, 10th in completions and 10th in passing yards.

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Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes becomes fastest player to 100 career passing touchdowns

It took Mahomes just 40 games to reach 100 passing touchdowns.

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Another week and another piece of NFL history owned by Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

With three touchdown passes against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Mahomes has become the fastest player in NFL history to reach 100 passing touchdowns. He passes the previous record-holder, Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino, who hit the 100 passing touchdown mark in 44 career games. It took Mahomes just 40 career games to hit 100 passing touchdown mark. It’s all the more impressive when you consider that Mahomes has three career games where he didn’t throw a single touchdown pass, including the first game start of his career back in 2017.

Mahomes continues to trample a number of historic NFL records this season. Earlier in the year became the quickest QB to reach 10,000 career passing yards. That record was also held by Marino.

Last week, Mahomes became the first quarterback to ever throw for at least 20 touchdown passes and one interception through the first eight games to start a season. It’s not exactly a historic record, but it shows just how tremendous Mahomes has been in his third year as a starter.

A season ago, Mahomes helped lead Kansas City to their first Super Bowl title in 50 seasons becoming the youngest player ever to win a Super Bowl MVP Award. The year prior he won the league MVP in a stunning fashion. The growing list of achievements for the Chiefs’ young QB is nothing short of remarkable and the craziest part of it is that he’s still just 25 years old. He hasn’t even reached the prime of his career yet and we’ll still get to watch that greatness unfold in Kansas City.

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How Seahawks QB Russell Wilson could set record Week 3 vs. Cowboys

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson can tie Patrick Mahones for the most touchdown passes in first three games of a season if he logs four on Sunday.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has been cooking over the first two games of the season, notching two wins and throwing for nine touchdowns so far on the year.

Wilson has also completed 52 of 63 passes attempted for 610 yards and a completion percentage of 82.54% and a passer rating of 140. He’s thrown one interception.

Hitting a number of milestones already this year, Wilson can tie or set a new NFL record on Sunday. If Wilson is able to log four touchdown passes against the Cowboys, he’ll tie Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes for the most TD passes in the first three games of a season in NFL history.

Mahomes threw for 13 scores over his first three games in 2018. Wilson can beat his record with five touchdown passes in Week 3.

Wilson and the Seahawks are set to kick off against the Cowboys Sunday afternoon at 1:25 p.m. PT at CenturyLink Field. Here’s everything you need to know to catch the action.

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Seahawks QB Russell Wilson is ‘definitely in the zone’ to start 2020

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson told ESPN that he is “definitely in the zone” regarding his mindset on the 2020 season.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has compiled nine touchdown passes through the first two weeks of the 2020 NFL season and is already being pegged as an MVP candidate. Only Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has surpassed that many TDs in two weeks with 10 in 2018.

Despite the coronavirus outbreak and related concerns over the offseason, Wilson said he has been ready to go since the Seahawks’ last postseason defeat against the Packers. Judging from his blazing hot start to the season, Wilson certainly came into 2020 prepared.

“Yeah, I think that, definitely in the zone,” Wilson said during his post-game press conference. “Locked in. Focused. Dialed in. My teammates are too. It’s a great group of men like I said. I’ve been ready to play since the last time we had our last game in Green Bay. Every day it’s my mindset, just my performance, team and everything else, just everything that we put into it is just getting ready and trying to be great.”

Although he is one of the game’s best signal-callers, Wilson stated he always tries to find areas in which to improve.

“I think that I have an obsession with this thought process of always trying to find more,” he said. “There’s always – be on this constant
quest for knowledge, be on this understanding that I want to continue to push myself in just the fundamentals, the simple things of the game all the way to the fun parts of throwing the ball in certain spots and all that stuff too.”

Wilson will seek to continue his stellar play in Week 3 when the Seahawks play the Cowboys at CenturyLink Field at 1:25 p.m. PT.

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‘Baldy’s Breakdowns’ highlights all four of Drew Brees’ record-breaking TD’s

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger dug into “Monday Night Football” tape to find how New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees broke Peyton Manning’s record

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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees made NFL history on “Monday Night Football,” lobbing four touchdown passes against the Indianapolis Colts defense to win 34-7. That effort put him ahead of both New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and retired passer Peyton Manning, who left the game with an NFL-record 539 career passing touchdowns.

Now, Brees has raised the bar up to 541. And who better to dig into the tape and explain how the Saints did it than NFL analyst Brian Baldinger?

Baldinger featured Brees and his teammates during a “Baldy’s Breakdowns” segment on Twitter, in which he uses game tape from the coach’s angle to highlight big plays and underrated moments.

“The New Orleans Saints passing game is different than almost every other team,” Baldinger said while reviewing Brees’ first touchdown pass. “Now in part because of Drew Brees. It’s a timing and spacing passing game. Maybe I’m thinking too much about this, but watch the spacing of all three receivers as Drew Brees gets ready to throw this ball.”

Baldinger noted how well-rehearsed the Saints’ receiving corps have become, picking out where all three of Brees’ options on his opening touchdown pass were in relation to each other at the time of the throw.

He continued, “Now when he throws this, they all just hit the goal line together. And if you look at Josh Hill, Michael Thomas, and Tre’Quan Smith, they’re exactly equidistant apart. It’s math, right? But lets’s spread the seven defenders out as much as we can, and we’ll open the windows as wide as we can.”

Baldinger then circled back in a second video to review that first score from a different perspective, before stringing together each of the subsequent touchdown passes, including the record-breaker.

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Drew Brees makes NFL history, sets new record for career touchdown passes

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees surpassed both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to set a new NFL record for career touchdown passes.

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Drew Brees needed three touchdowns to reset the NFL’s record for career scoring passes, and he got them on Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts. It initially looked like he would have gotten it done in just a half of football, but a weak offensive pass interference penalty on wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith wiped out the would-be scoring play.

But Brees wasn’t going to let that sort of shortcoming slow him down. He came out of the halftime break roaring, and scored again — and without a shadow of a doubt — with a 5-yard throw to backup tight end Josh Hill. Let’s recap each of his touchdown throws.

The first score tied Brees with New England Patriots icon Tom Brady, who finished his game Sunday 538 career touchdown passes. Brees found superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas in the heart of the Colts defense from 15 yards out, which extended the Saints’ lead and matched Brady’s mark:

The next touchdown pass went to second-year pro Tre’Quan Smith. Brees initially gave Smith a chance from 28 yards out, but the young receiver was interfered with and unable to go up and make the catch. So Brees hit him again from 19 yards away; Smith caught it this time, and rumbled two more yards into the end zone. This scoring play saw Brees’ career total climb to 539, matching the record set by retired legend Peyton Manning.

But records are made to be broken. Nobody knows that better than Brees, who has broken so many in his storied NFL career. And with history on the line, the Saints quarterback stepped up and delivered with a five-yard strike to Hill; not do-it-all quarterback Taysom Hill, but the backup tight end. Who else could?

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Drew Brees in position to surpass Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and break TD record

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees can make football history on Monday Night Football, and surpass both Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

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Fortune kept giving New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady opportunities, but he just couldn’t seize them. When New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees missed five games with an injury to his throwing hand, sidelining him from their race to unseat Peyton Manning as the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, Brady failed to take control of the race and held the door open long enough for Brees to catch up to him.

Again, in Week 15, Brady had a shot at breaking the record before Brees. He was playing one of the NFL’s worst teams a day before Brees would take the “Monday Night Football” stage, and just needed rack up some scores on the lowly Cincinnati Bengals. But he couldn’t get it done.

Now, Brees is set to star in prime-time and surpass Brady and Manning both. Brees will take the field against the Indianapolis Colts with 537 career touchdown passes to his credit, trailing Brady (538) and Manning (539) for the record. A single passing touchdown will tie him with Brady. Two will match the mark with Manning. Three or more rewrites the NFL record books.

The enormity of this record can’t be summed up just by comparing Brees to those two all-time greats, though. Before Brett Favre broke the record Dan Marino set in 1999 (ending his career with 420 career passing touchdowns; Favre shattered that total with 508), the record stood for nearly a decade. When Marino broke it himself, he did so after Fran Tarkenton retired with 342 career touchdowns passes — back in 1978. It took 17 years for anyone to best the mark Tarkenton established.

And it might take that long for anyone to break the record Brees could set, once it’s all said and done. Though he’s tied with Brady for now, they could both retire in the next year or two and not shock anyone. Whoever ends up winning this record will hold onto it for a long, long time. Many of the active quarterbacks behind Brees and Brady are closer to retiring themselves than playing in their prime. Here’s how the standings shake out among them, with ages in parentheses:

  1.  Tom Brady (42), 538 touchdown passes
  2. Drew Brees (41 in January), 537 touchdown passes
  3. Philip Rivers (38), 395 touchdown passes
  4. Eli Manning (39 in January), 366 touchdown passes
  5. Ben Roethlisberger (37), 363 touchdown passes
  6. Aaron Rodgers (36), 362 touchdown passes
  7. Matt Ryan (34), 319 touchdown passes
  8. Matthew Stafford (31), 256 touchdown passes
  9. Russell Wilson (31), 224 touchdown passes
  10. Joe Flacco (35 in January), 218 touchdown passes

Of the names on that list, only Rodgers, Ryan, Stafford, and Wilson feel like they may have the staying power (and secure starting jobs) to challenge Brees (or Brady) someday. But even that’s pushing it; if each of them averaged 30 touchdown passes a year (a tall order considering only two quarterbacks have done so this year, with two games remaining), here’s how old they would be when they get to 540 or more career passing touchdowns:

  • Aaron Rodgers (42, six years)
  • Matt Ryan (42, eight years)
  • Matthew Stafford (41, ten years)
  • Russell Wilson (42, eleven years)

So, yeah: if there’s any realistic challengers to the throne Brees (or Brady) will one day sit on, it will take them almost a decade or more to close the gap, and that’s with them playing at a sustained, high level. That isn’t a guarantee especially for players with frequent injury issues (Stafford), or who are stuck in run-first offenses (Wilson), or who are simply cursed to never win anything due to playing for the Atlanta Falcons (Ryan). Maybe Rodgers catches up, but he doesn’t feel like the type of fanatical competitor who will want to continue playing football deep into his forties.

That’s just added motivation for Brees to go out and break Manning’s record (which was Favre’s record, and Marino’s record, and Tarkenton’s record), and cement himself among the greatest quarterbacks to ever spin a football. Sure, it’s not something that will be actively on his mind during the game, but this record and the implications it carries have to be something Brees is aware of. As his career continues winding down and becoming the stuff of legend, it’s records like this that will pad out his Hall of Fame-worthy resume. Saints fans should take every opportunity to enjoy Brees and what he’s done while he’s still wearing shoulderpads.

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