J-Speaks: Brees' Up the NFL's All-Time Mark for Passing Yards and Touchdowns

Who are the best quarterbacks in the National Football League today? Some say it’s Tom Brady of the five-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Others say it is Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers. One player who might not be getting the kind of national recognition as the other two is the signal caller in the “Big Easy,” who in two of the last three weeks has risen up the all-time record books. 

In the Saints 43-19 win versus the Washington Redskins (4-2) on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” future Hall of Famer Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints first surpassed  Hall of Fame signal caller Brett Favre (71,838) for the No. 2 spot on the all-time passing yards list with a with a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josh Hill that capped a 13-play 75-yard drive in the second quarter. 

He moved into No. 1 passing fellow future Hall of Famer and New Orleans native Peyton Manning, the son of former Saints QB and Hall of Famer Archie Manning with a 62-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith in the second quarter made him the all-time leader in passing yards in NFL history with 72,103 when the night concluded. 

“First and fore most we wanted to get the win,” Brees, who went 26 for 29 passing for 363 yards and three touchdowns said to Scott Van Pelt on ESPN’s “Sportscenter with Scott Van Pelt” after the win. “This was obviously a stressful week in preparation for this because I really wanted everyone’s mind to be on playing this game one play at a time and finding a way to win this game.” 

“Just knowing this could be a tight game all the way through and here lingers this record. At what point does this happen if it does? Does it break the momentum and just all those things?” 

“So, you just mentally try to prepare yourself but at the end of the day it was just great execution. Focusing on winning the game and if it happens it happens. I don’t think you could’ve drawn it up any better.” 

It did get better two weeks later when the Saints when the NFL’s top scoring offense overtook the top scoring defense as the NFC South leaders  at 4-1 won at the Baltimore Ravens 24-23 on Sunday afternoon as Brees with the a one-yard scoring pass to veteran tight end Benjamin Watson in the second quarter became joined Manning, Favre and Brady as the only players in NFL history to throw 500 touch down passes or more. Brees with a five-yard TD pass to wideout Michael Thomas late in the fourth quarter gave him 501 for his career. 

“It’s a significant benchmark, yet you’re in the middle of the game and you’re not really paying attention to it,” Saints head coach Sean Payton said of his QB’s trek up the NFL record books, where his passing yard mark now stands at 72,315. “I think more importantly, it’s the final team he needed to beat.” 

It was indeed as Brees, who went 22 for 32 for 212 yards passing and those two scores beat the Ravens for the first time in five career tries as ironically enough joined Favre and Manning as the only quarterbacks to defeat all 32 teams in the NFL. There was a point in time that Brees making it atop the NFL’s all-time list for passing yards and passing touchdowns was not possible. 

When Brees was selected by the San Diego Chargers, now Los Angeles Chargers at No. 32 in the 2001 NFL Draft all that the former Purdue Boilermaker wanted was to become a starting quarterback. 

He not only became a starter for the lightning bolts, Brees became the guy that the organization hoped would lead them to a Super Bowl one day. 

That all changed in 2005 finale when the Austin, TX native injured his throwing shoulder in Week 17 versus their AFC West rival the Denver Broncos. 

The Chargers already had Brees air parent Philip Rivers waiting in the wings and just like that Brees was looking for a new opportunity elsewhere. 

Some doctors though after checking out Brees’ shoulder according to a report from MNF’s sideline reporter Lisa Salters during the Redskins versus Saints contest gave him a 25 percent chance of coming back from. 

Just Brees was broken so was the city of New Orleans, LA as it was trying to fight its way back from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina months prior. 

Together the Saints and Brees heeled each other as he signed with the team on a six-year $60 million deal. Brees helped lead the Saints to victory 23-3 in the first home game following the Hurricane at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on “Monday Night Football” versus their NFC South rivals the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 1, 2006. 

That victory, one of 10 the Saints had that season, taking the NFC South was only the start of things for Brees, Coach Payton and the Saints as they made it to their first NFC Championship Game appearance that same season. They lose that at the Chicago Bears. 

Three seasons later Brees and the Saints would beat the Favre led Minnesota Vikings in the NFC title game and then to victory in Super Bowl XLIV over Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, which was dubbed “The Miracle in Miami” 31-17. 

“There are so many people that are responsible for this,” Brees said of what he has done as the leader of the Saints from his teammates, the front office to the fans of the “Big Easy.” 

“I just hope they all know where my heart is and its with them. I wouldn’t want to play for any other coach. He’s one of the main guys that I wake up everyday saying, ‘I want to prove him right. Still, 13 years later for taking that chance on me.’”

That chance turned the Saints not only into one of the best offenses in the NFL the past 13 years but a consistent winner that had a real shot of making the playoffs. It turned Brees from a guy many questioned if he could have a decent career into a sure fire first ballot Hall of Famer, who on “Monday Night Football” versus the Falcons on Dec. 26, 2011 broke Hall of Fame signal caller Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins all-time single season passing record as Brees finished with 5,476. Manning would surpass that mark by one yard at 5,477 two seasons later with the Broncos. 

The black and gold jersey and cleats Brees wore on that night went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. 

When Brees set the all-time passing mark, he handed the game ball to Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker and for sure that white black and gold jersey and cleats he set the record in were taken as well to be put on display in the Hall of Fame. 

As the 73,000 fans were showing their love to Brees after he set another NFL all-time mark, he hugged his three sons and said to them for those watching on television to hear through the “Monday Night Mic,” “Hey boys, how about that? How about that? Hey, I love you guys so much. You can accomplish anything if you’re willing to work for it right? I love you boys so much.” 

After greeting his family and receiving hugs and congratulations from his teammates on the field, Brees went over the sidelines to hug Coach Payton, which was followed by the signal caller getting him mind back to the task at hand by saying, “Let’s go win the game now.” 

“Monday Night Football” play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore said while the record was taking place that when Drew Brees first signed with the Saints 12 seasons back that “they desperately needed a hero and he needed to be one.” 

He not only became a hero on the field, he in his own way became the savior of that part of Louisiana. 

Beyond just setting the completion record in NFL history with 6,392 and counting. Breaking the all-time mark for consecutive games with a touchdown pass, surpassing late great Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas at on Oct. 7, 2012 versus ironically enough the Chargers at 47, which would end at 54 straight contests. The highest single-season completion percentage that he set at 71.2 percent in 2011, while having the highest career completion percentage in league history with 67.2. The most 5,000-yard passing seasons with five and now the the all-time mark for passing yards in NFL history, while joining the 500-touchdown club Drew Brees has become winner both on and off the gridiron.  

More than anything, the past 18 seasons we have seen him go from an unknown into not just a well-known football player but into a proud loving person who cherishes his head coach in Sean Payton, his teammates and above all his wife of 16 years, who he met in college Brittany and their four children sons Baylen, Bowen, Callen, and daughter Rylen. 

They were right there, along with owner Gayle Benson, the wife of the late great owner Tom Benson who passed away on Mar. 15 at the age of 90 for this historic moment were on the field for that historic moment. 

There are many players who only make it into the Hall of Fame when they are voted in. Brees because of the records he has achieved already has a place in the Hall of Fame and when that will make it even more special for the player who took that enormous chip he had on his shoulder from his college days to injuring his throwing shoulder 13 years back when and made himself into a player that will enshrined in Canton, OH when his playing days are done, which seems like it will not be anytime soon. 

“We we’re happy for him. We all had tears in our eyes for him and watching him share it with his family made it that much more special,” “NFL Today” on CBS studio analyst and co-host of Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” Boomer Esiason said about the feelings he, former NFL players and former teammates had for Brees. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 10/8/18 8 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “Monday Night Kickoff,” engineered by GMC; 10/8/18 8:15 p.m. ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” contest between Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints with Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten, Anthony “Booger” McFarland, and Lisa Salters; 10/9/18 9 p.m. edition of Showtime’s “Inside the NFL,” with James Brown, Phil Simms, Boomer Esiason, Ray Lewis, and Steve Smith, Sr.; 10/21/18 7 p.m. edition of “Football Night in America” on NBC with Mike Tirico, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison and Mike Florio; www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/2580/drew-brees; www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameid=401030384; www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameid/401030384; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_champions; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_New_Orleans_Saints_season; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Brees.