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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:
- Peyton Manning (539)
- Tom Brady (531)
- Drew Brees (528)
- Brett Favre (508)
- 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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