Race to the top: Brady’s battle with Brees for the NFL’s most hallowed record
NFL
Published on : 12/8/2023
By Ryan Michael
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
(Editor’s note: This article is the latest in an ongoing series looking at quarterbacks’ achievements that have aged well over the past 80 NFL seasons.)
Roughly 6,000 people have reached the peak of Mount Everest.
The height of heights. The summit of summits.
No small feat.
As Drew Brees and Tom Brady entered the twilight of their storied careers, they found themselves inches away from the top of professional football’s Mount Everest: the all-time record for the most touchdown passes in NFL history.
From the time Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh first captured the all-time touchdown pass record in 1943, only seven players had reset the rising summit over the 72 seasons that followed:
From there, Manning would add 30 touchdown passes to the record before retiring after the end of the 2015 NFL season.
At that point, Brees and Brady were tied for third place all-time at 428. As both quarterbacks continued to defy time, their chase for Manning’s record remained neck-and-neck heading into the 2019 NFL season:
As the 2019 season began, there was little doubt both players eventually would eclipse the hallowed mark of 539. But who would be the first to break Manning’s record? And who would be the one to retire with the record when the dust finally settled?
The final stretch of the journey was set to begin.
That same day, Brady threw two touchdown passes in the New England Patriots’ 43-0 win over the Miami Dolphins, forging another tie between the two future Hall of Famers at 522.
With Brees out of action, Brady worked his way up to 528.
Now 12 touchdown passes away from breaking the record, and six ahead of Brees, the NFL world awaited Brady’s moment. His date with destiny was simply a matter of time.
Or so fans thought.
Back in New Orleans, the Saints expected Brees to miss about eight weeks — a timetable that included a bye. The team projected his return date for Nov. 10, 2019, or 56 days after he tore the ligament.
It was an ambitious goal given the severity of the injury.
Despite this, 56 days weren’t soon enough for Brees.
He pushed himself back into action Oct. 27, 2019 — only 42 days from his injury and 14 days ahead of projection.
What followed was a run of dominance few, if anyone, saw coming.
Three touchdown passes in his return against the Cardinals grew to a 15-to-2 touchdowns-to-interception split over his next six games. Against all odds, Brees had worked his way up to 537 touchdown passes by early December — one ahead of Brady.
With the Saints scheduled to play the Indianapolis Colts on “Monday Night Football,” Brady caught a break in the calendar that would afford him a historic opportunity on Dec. 15, 2019, against the 1-13 Cincinnati Bengals.
At 536, Brady needed four touchdown passes to leapfrog Brees and break Manning’s record in the process.
Pats fans made the trip. Of the announced 57,066 fans in attendance at Paul Brown Stadium, many donned navy blue and red, and No. 12 jerseys dotted the stands.
Brady completed 15 of 29 passes (51.7%) for 128 yards (4.4 YPA) and two touchdown passes — placing him one touchdown ahead of Brees but one below Manning.
The Patriots won 34-13, but the moment was missed.
With his opportunity now in front of him, Brees — facing Manning’s former team, in primetime, in the Superdome — delivered in near-perfect fashion. His stat line: 29 of 30 (96.7%) for 307 yards (10.2 YPA), four touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
In the middle of the third quarter, Brees connected with Josh Hill for a 5-yard touchdown pass to break the record, moving up to 540 before ending the night at 541.
His 96.7% pass completion-percentage set a new record for the highest mark in a single game in the history of the National Football League — fitting for a league celebrating its 100th season.
By the end of the 2019 season, Brees held the record at 547. Brady stood at 541.
It’s worth noting, both Brees and Brady threw a lot more passes than Manning to eclipse his previous record of 539 touchdowns.
Brees got to 547 in 10,161. Brady threw 541 TDs in 9,988 attempts. Manning threw his 539 touchdowns in only 9,380 attempts. Despite Brees and Brady playing in significantly favorable era conditions from 2016-19, Manning still topped both in efficiency and by some distance.
A five-time NFL MVP, Manning took ownership of the record at 38 years of age. Brees played until age 40 to break the mark in 2019. Brady would turn 43 before the start of the 2020 season, and his pursuit of the record wasn’t over.
On Oct. 25, 2020, against the Las Vegas Raiders, Brady broke Brees’ record with the 559th touchdown pass of his career. From there, the two would see the record trade hands, going back in forth in a seesaw race for statistical immortality.
On Nov. 1, 2020, Brees pulled ahead at 560. The next day, Brady reached 561.
A “Sunday Night Football” showdown Nov. 8 in Tampa pitted the two against each other with the career touchdown pass record hanging in the balance. Brees met the moment in Brady’s new home stadium.
• Brady: 22 of 38 (57.9%) for 209 yards, zero touchdowns, three interceptions and a 40.4 passer rating.
• Brees: 26 of 32 (81.3%) for 222 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 135.2 passer rating.
The following week, Brady tied Brees (at 564) with a three-touchdown performance vs. the Carolina Panthers in the 1 p.m. time slot.
When Brees faced the San Francisco 49ers at 4:25 p.m., he took a significant blow on a sack midway through the second quarter. The hit broke his ribcage and collapsed a lung. Somehow, he remained in the game and connected with Alvin Kamara for a 3-yard touchdown pass to take back sole possession of the record at 565.
It would be the final time Brees stood alone at the summit.
Jameis Winston replaced him in the second half against the 49ers, and Brees missed the next four games.
Brees’ injury should have kept him out for the remainder of the season, but in similar fashion to his comeback in 2019, he returned ahead of schedule, playing Dec. 20, 2020, against the Kansas City Chiefs.
During Brees’ absence, Brady threw seven touchdown passes to bring his career total to 571 — six ahead in the race with Brees.
At the end of the regular season, Brady had moved up to 581 with Brees at 571.
A final showdown in the NFC Divisional Round of the postseason brought the rivals together one last time.
While Brady was short of spectacular, completing 18 of 33 (54.6%) for 199 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 92.9 passer rating, he got the better of Brees. Playing with a collection of injuries that took their toll on his body as the season wore on, Brees completed 19 of 34 (55.9%) for 134 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and a 38.1 passer rating.
The 30-20 win moved Brady to the NFC Championship Game. For Brees, it meant the end of a 20-year NFL career and the end of his battle for the NFL’s all-time touchdown pass record.
Brady played two more seasons, retiring with a staggering 649 career touchdown passes.
Taking a look at the home/road splits reveals further dominance from both quarterbacks.
Brady’s 321 career touchdown passes on the road might be even more impressive than his overall total. Manning holds second place with 262.
Brees holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in home games at 332 — four ahead of Brady (328) despite throwing 656 fewer passes (5,335 vs.5,991).
In terms of overall efficiency, Brees’ 5.41 career touchdown pass percentage tops Brady’s 5.38 by a hair.
After first facing off Oct. 2, 1999, in college (a 38-12 win for Michigan over Purdue), their head-to-head rivalry ended Jan. 17, 2021 with the 30-20 Buccaneers win in the playoffs.
At the NFL level, Brees finished 5-3 against Brady overall (including the postseason), but Brady walked away with the 1-0 edge in the playoffs.
However you slice the rivalry, the two ended their professional careers among the greatest to play their position.
Ryan Michael is statistician, sportswriter and contributor to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can follow him on Twitter: @theryanmichael .
This article is the latest in an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy quarterback play over the past 80 seasons. Information from Pro-Football-Reference.com’s database helped make the research possible.
Special to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
(Editor’s note: This article is the latest in an ongoing series looking at quarterbacks’ achievements that have aged well over the past 80 NFL seasons.)
Roughly 6,000 people have reached the peak of Mount Everest.
The height of heights. The summit of summits.
No small feat.
As Drew Brees and Tom Brady entered the twilight of their storied careers, they found themselves inches away from the top of professional football’s Mount Everest: the all-time record for the most touchdown passes in NFL history.
From the time Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh first captured the all-time touchdown pass record in 1943, only seven players had reset the rising summit over the 72 seasons that followed:
- SAMMY BAUGH (187)
- BOBBY LAYNE (196)
- Y.A. TITTLE (212)
- JOHNNY UNITAS (290)
- FRAN TARKENTON (342)
- DAN MARINO (420)
- BRETT FAVRE (508)
- PEYTON MANNING (539)
From there, Manning would add 30 touchdown passes to the record before retiring after the end of the 2015 NFL season.
At that point, Brees and Brady were tied for third place all-time at 428. As both quarterbacks continued to defy time, their chase for Manning’s record remained neck-and-neck heading into the 2019 NFL season:
- After 2016: Brees (465), Brady (456)
- After 2017: Brees (488), Brady (488)
- After 2018: Brees (520), Brady (517)
As the 2019 season began, there was little doubt both players eventually would eclipse the hallowed mark of 539. But who would be the first to break Manning’s record? And who would be the one to retire with the record when the dust finally settled?
The final stretch of the journey was set to begin.
2019 Season (The Race)
In Week 2 of the 2019 season, five passing attempts into the New Orleans Saints’ matchup with the Los Angeles Rams, Brees suffered a serious thumb injury when his throwing hand collided with Aaron Donald’s helmet. The blow caused ligament damage, requiring surgery that would keep him out of action for a sizable chunk of the season.That same day, Brady threw two touchdown passes in the New England Patriots’ 43-0 win over the Miami Dolphins, forging another tie between the two future Hall of Famers at 522.
With Brees out of action, Brady worked his way up to 528.
Now 12 touchdown passes away from breaking the record, and six ahead of Brees, the NFL world awaited Brady’s moment. His date with destiny was simply a matter of time.
Or so fans thought.
Back in New Orleans, the Saints expected Brees to miss about eight weeks — a timetable that included a bye. The team projected his return date for Nov. 10, 2019, or 56 days after he tore the ligament.
It was an ambitious goal given the severity of the injury.
Despite this, 56 days weren’t soon enough for Brees.
He pushed himself back into action Oct. 27, 2019 — only 42 days from his injury and 14 days ahead of projection.
What followed was a run of dominance few, if anyone, saw coming.
Three touchdown passes in his return against the Cardinals grew to a 15-to-2 touchdowns-to-interception split over his next six games. Against all odds, Brees had worked his way up to 537 touchdown passes by early December — one ahead of Brady.
With the Saints scheduled to play the Indianapolis Colts on “Monday Night Football,” Brady caught a break in the calendar that would afford him a historic opportunity on Dec. 15, 2019, against the 1-13 Cincinnati Bengals.
At 536, Brady needed four touchdown passes to leapfrog Brees and break Manning’s record in the process.
Pats fans made the trip. Of the announced 57,066 fans in attendance at Paul Brown Stadium, many donned navy blue and red, and No. 12 jerseys dotted the stands.
Brady completed 15 of 29 passes (51.7%) for 128 yards (4.4 YPA) and two touchdown passes — placing him one touchdown ahead of Brees but one below Manning.
The Patriots won 34-13, but the moment was missed.
The record finally falls
With his opportunity now in front of him, Brees — facing Manning’s former team, in primetime, in the Superdome — delivered in near-perfect fashion. His stat line: 29 of 30 (96.7%) for 307 yards (10.2 YPA), four touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
In the middle of the third quarter, Brees connected with Josh Hill for a 5-yard touchdown pass to break the record, moving up to 540 before ending the night at 541.
His 96.7% pass completion-percentage set a new record for the highest mark in a single game in the history of the National Football League — fitting for a league celebrating its 100th season.
By the end of the 2019 season, Brees held the record at 547. Brady stood at 541.
Manning surpassed but not topped
It’s worth noting, both Brees and Brady threw a lot more passes than Manning to eclipse his previous record of 539 touchdowns.
Brees got to 547 in 10,161. Brady threw 541 TDs in 9,988 attempts. Manning threw his 539 touchdowns in only 9,380 attempts. Despite Brees and Brady playing in significantly favorable era conditions from 2016-19, Manning still topped both in efficiency and by some distance.
A five-time NFL MVP, Manning took ownership of the record at 38 years of age. Brees played until age 40 to break the mark in 2019. Brady would turn 43 before the start of the 2020 season, and his pursuit of the record wasn’t over.
2020 Season (The Seesaw)
On Oct. 25, 2020, against the Las Vegas Raiders, Brady broke Brees’ record with the 559th touchdown pass of his career. From there, the two would see the record trade hands, going back in forth in a seesaw race for statistical immortality.
On Nov. 1, 2020, Brees pulled ahead at 560. The next day, Brady reached 561.
A “Sunday Night Football” showdown Nov. 8 in Tampa pitted the two against each other with the career touchdown pass record hanging in the balance. Brees met the moment in Brady’s new home stadium.
• Brady: 22 of 38 (57.9%) for 209 yards, zero touchdowns, three interceptions and a 40.4 passer rating.
• Brees: 26 of 32 (81.3%) for 222 yards, four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 135.2 passer rating.
The following week, Brady tied Brees (at 564) with a three-touchdown performance vs. the Carolina Panthers in the 1 p.m. time slot.
When Brees faced the San Francisco 49ers at 4:25 p.m., he took a significant blow on a sack midway through the second quarter. The hit broke his ribcage and collapsed a lung. Somehow, he remained in the game and connected with Alvin Kamara for a 3-yard touchdown pass to take back sole possession of the record at 565.
It would be the final time Brees stood alone at the summit.
Jameis Winston replaced him in the second half against the 49ers, and Brees missed the next four games.
Brees’ injury should have kept him out for the remainder of the season, but in similar fashion to his comeback in 2019, he returned ahead of schedule, playing Dec. 20, 2020, against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Brady pulls ahead (The Final Chapter)
During Brees’ absence, Brady threw seven touchdown passes to bring his career total to 571 — six ahead in the race with Brees.
At the end of the regular season, Brady had moved up to 581 with Brees at 571.
A final showdown in the NFC Divisional Round of the postseason brought the rivals together one last time.
While Brady was short of spectacular, completing 18 of 33 (54.6%) for 199 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 92.9 passer rating, he got the better of Brees. Playing with a collection of injuries that took their toll on his body as the season wore on, Brees completed 19 of 34 (55.9%) for 134 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions and a 38.1 passer rating.
The 30-20 win moved Brady to the NFC Championship Game. For Brees, it meant the end of a 20-year NFL career and the end of his battle for the NFL’s all-time touchdown pass record.
Brady played two more seasons, retiring with a staggering 649 career touchdown passes.
Impressive splits
Taking a look at the home/road splits reveals further dominance from both quarterbacks.
Brady’s 321 career touchdown passes on the road might be even more impressive than his overall total. Manning holds second place with 262.
Brees holds the NFL record for most touchdown passes in home games at 332 — four ahead of Brady (328) despite throwing 656 fewer passes (5,335 vs.5,991).
In terms of overall efficiency, Brees’ 5.41 career touchdown pass percentage tops Brady’s 5.38 by a hair.
After first facing off Oct. 2, 1999, in college (a 38-12 win for Michigan over Purdue), their head-to-head rivalry ended Jan. 17, 2021 with the 30-20 Buccaneers win in the playoffs.
At the NFL level, Brees finished 5-3 against Brady overall (including the postseason), but Brady walked away with the 1-0 edge in the playoffs.
However you slice the rivalry, the two ended their professional careers among the greatest to play their position.
Ryan Michael is statistician, sportswriter and contributor to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can follow him on Twitter: @theryanmichael .
This article is the latest in an ongoing series highlighting noteworthy quarterback play over the past 80 seasons. Information from Pro-Football-Reference.com’s database helped make the research possible.
More of this series
- Analysis: Charlie Conerly’s giant accomplishments hold up as eras pass
- Y.A. Tittle’s journey from San Francisco to New York
- Analysis: An appreciation of Sammy Baugh’s historic 1943 season
- Legendary seasons for Sid Luckman, Peyton Manning separated by 70 years
- Looking back at TB12’s historic 2011 season 12 years later
- Russell Wilson’s decade of dominance in Seattle remains elite
- Roger Staubach’s 1971: The greatest season you’ve never heard about
- Silver anniversary: Randall Cunningham’s solid gold season with Vikings
- 50 years since Unitas’ last pass: Some things you might not know about No. 19
- Race to the top: Brady’s battle with Brees for the NFL’s most hallowed record
- Analysis: Did Andrew Luck exceed hype or fall short?
- As cold as ice: Perception of Matt Ryan’s legacy after ‘28-3’
- Cam Newton leads high-flying 2015 Carolina Panthers
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