Drew Brees Moves Past Brett Favre For Second Most Career Touchdown Passes
Drew Brees continued to stack the milestones along his historic season on Sunday, November 11 when he tossed three touchdowns to eclipse Brett Favre for the second spot on the all-time passing TD list – Around The NFL writer Herbie Teope reports.
Brees made easy work out of the Cincinnati Bengals, leading his New Orleans Saints to a 51-14 victory with 265 yards on 22 completions in their Week 10 matchup. Efficiency proved to be the name of the game for the 11-time Pro-Bowl quarterback. He only missed the mark three times, while managing to feed seven different receivers on only 25 passing attempts throughout the course of the game. The performance also served as an all-around display of Brees’ talent, as he also rushed a score into the end zone late in the contest. But although he fit all of his passing TDs into the first half of the blowout, it was the touchdowns that once again stamped Brees’ place in history.
Heading into the weekend, both Brees and New England Patriots great Tom Brady were within reach of Favre’s 508 touchdowns. Seeing how both men are still active and playing at an elite level, they are likely to rotate in and out of the slot behind Peyton Manning in the coming years. However, for the second time in three games, Brady failed to throw a passing touchdown, leaving him stranded with 505 TDs for the time being. The dud opened up the possibility for Brees to take a commanding lead in their march towards Manning’s record of 539 career regular season TDs.
Brees secured the milestone by hitting Michael Thomas for a 17-yard score late in the second quarter. He now has 509 passing touchdowns through 18 seasons, according to Pro Football Reference.
Drew Brees now has 509 career touchdown passes, putting him in sole possession of second place all-time! pic.twitter.com/Qyt8gW66kl
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 11, 2018
It has been a year of records for Brees. It was Thomas who he linked up with back in September to breeze by Favre for the most passing completions ever. He has only added to his lead over Favre’s 6,300 completed passes – and added another notch under his belt the following week when he connected with Tre’Quan Smith for a 62-yard TD against the Washington Redskins. As ESPN would report, that play led to a break midway through the game so that both teams and the crowd on hand at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome could celebrate Brees toppling Manning’s prior record of 71,940 yards thrown to become the passing yards king.
In spite of how prolific he’s proven to be as one of the sport’s greatest pure passing quarterbacks, Brees has never taken home an MVP trophy. However, with his Saints team on a hot eight-game winning streak and 21 touchdowns to only one interception on the year, his fortune may change in that regard.
In addition to the touchdowns and the yards, Brees is outpacing his record 76.3 completion percentage. It has all culminated to make him one of the leading candidates for the award heading down the stretch toward the playoffs.
