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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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