Drew Brees became the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown passes, throwing for four scores to lead the New Orleans Saints to a 34-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.
The strike that broke Peyton Manning’s record of 539 career touchdown passes came in the third quarter, when Brees hit tight end Josh Hill. Brees’ next pass in the game was the 541st touchdown of his career, a 28-yard TD to reserve QB and utility player Taysom Hill that put the Saints up 34-0.
Brees came into the game already holding NFL records for completions with 6,792 and yards passing with 72,577 and built on those numbers by also setting a record for completion percentage in a game. He completed 29 of 30 passes 96.7% for 307 yards before being replaced by Teddy Bridgwater in the fourth quarter. That broke the mark Philip Rivers had held since completing 28 of 29 (96.6%) against Arizona last season.
Tom Brady
(@TomBrady)Congrats drew!! Couldn’t be more deserving. Passing Peyton in anything is an incredible achievement and your records will be tough to beat! But it’s worth trying 😉
Tom Brady, who is third on the all-time touchdown passes list on 538 tweeted his congratulations to Brees. “Congrats drew!! Couldn’t be more deserving. Passing Peyton in anything is an incredible achievement and your records will be tough to beat! But it’s worth trying,” he wrote.
The victory kept the Saints (11-3), who’d already won the NFC South, in the running with San Francisco (11-3) and Green Bay (11-3) for one of the top two seeds in the NFC playoffs. The Colts (6-8) were eliminated from playoff contention after losing their fourth straight and sixth out of seven.