Drew Brees, all-time career TD leader (2024)

Congrats to Drew Brees, who threw 4 TDs last night to become the NFL's all-time career TD pass leader. Brees currently has 541 TDs, ahead of Peyton manning (539) and Tom Brady (538).

I remember when Marino was the all-time leader...with 420. He is now # 5 on the list.

Some interesting things when I look at the top 20 at https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_td_career.htm
--8 of the top 20 TD leaders are currently playing - and 6 of them are in the top 10! That just goes to show how much the passing game has changed over the years.
--Philip Rivers will pass Marino next season to move to #5.
--I didn't realize Eli Manning was #7 with 366..maybe he is deserving of the Hall after all?
--Biggest surprise: Carson Palmer at #13!
--Next season, barring injury, Matt Ryan will move into the top 10 and Matt Stafford could move into the top 15.
--Looking outside the top 20: Ryan Fitzpatrick is #42 overall, and will move into the top 35 next season if he is a starter.

HEY!!! Using PFR is supposed to be MY thing, dammit!!!

Yeah, it really does illustrate how absurdly easy it is for even average QBs these days to rack up numbers that make Hall Of Famers from yesteryear look like trash. I mean, Ryan Freaking Tannehill has not one, but TWO 4000-yard passing seasons Before Marino's 1984 season, that had been done just seven times in NFL history

http://pfref.com/tiny/GHRqi

I'll put it this way about Eli's HOF chances: if he doesn't get in then Rivers shouldn't either. Did you know that Fouts reached two AFC title games and Rivers has only done that once? I couldn't care less about his numbers, for the reasons I stated above. That leaves B-Roth from the Class Of '04, and it just doesn't seem right for *none* of those three to get in. Especially since there might only be 2-3 QBs at best drafted after that year who deserve to.

BTW from '84 to '00, QBs threw for 4000-plus yards in a season 34 times (remember, it was just 7 times before than).

http://pfref.com/tiny/aTkT4

But that doesn't even BEGIN to compare to the absurdity of '01-18, when there was a ridiculous 134 400-yard passing seasons

http://pfref.com/tiny/Ooakh

WE can do this for 30-TD seasons as well. Through '83 there were 18 such seasons.

http://pfref.com/tiny/yuScK

Then from '84-00 that number increased to 26.

http://pfref.com/tiny/26ucs

And from '01-18 QBs did it a whopping 78 times

http://pfref.com/tiny/YvlDN

So basically a 4000-yard, 30 TD season has gone from historically good to something your average run of the mill QB should be able to do at least a couple of times in his career.

DolFan 316 wrote:HEY!!! Using PFR is supposed to be MY thing, dammit!!!

LOL Sorry about that! I got curious about the all-time leaders when I was watching the game last night, and the PFR link is the first one that came up in Google!

DolFan 316 wrote:I'll put it this way about Eli's HOF chances: if he doesn't get in then Rivers shouldn't either. Did you know that Fouts reached two AFC title games and Rivers has only done that once? I couldn't care less about his numbers, for the reasons I stated above. That leaves B-Roth from the Class Of '04, and it just doesn't seem right for *none* of those three to get in. Especially since there might only be 2-3 QBs at best drafted after that year who deserve to.

When I think of Hall of Famers, I think of players that were among the elite of their era, and absolutely dominant. Eli had some nice seasons, but was he ever dominant? Did anyone ever say, "Wow, Eli is the best f*cking QB in football!" A hard "no" on both for me. Now, he won two Super Bowls and was generally a great postseason QB, so I guess for some people that's automatic...but I don't know...I just don't see him as an all-time great.

At least Rivers is about 25 games over .500 winning percentage in his career, even though he never got a ring. Eli is just at .500 now, thanks to beating the Phins on Sunday. Winning percentage isn't the be all end all, but you would think a great QB would have more wins than losses. I'm sure it's not difficult to look up, but are there any other Hall of Fame QBs with a non-winning career record besides Joe Namath?

DolFan 316 wrote:BTW from '84 to '00, QBs threw for 4000-plus yards in a season 34 times (remember, it was just 7 times before than).

http://pfref.com/tiny/aTkT4

But that doesn't even BEGIN to compare to the absurdity of '01-18, when there was a ridiculous 134 400-yard passing seasons

http://pfref.com/tiny/Ooakh

WE can do this for 30-TD seasons as well. Through '83 there were 18 such seasons.

http://pfref.com/tiny/yuScK

Then from '84-00 that number increased to 26.

http://pfref.com/tiny/26ucs

And from '01-18 QBs did it a whopping 78 times

http://pfref.com/tiny/YvlDN

So basically a 4000-yard, 30 TD season has gone from historically good to something your average run of the mill QB should be able to do at least a couple of times in his career.

Wow, that is crazy stuff. And only goes to show just how piss-poor the Dolphins have been...30 TDs in a single season hasn't been sniffed by a Dolphins QB since the team's current "Special Advisor" did it in 1994!

JMP wrote:At least Rivers is about 25 games over .500 winning percentage in his career, even though he never got a ring. Eli is just at .500 now, thanks to beating the Phins on Sunday. Winning percentage isn't the be all end all, but you would think a great QB would have more wins than losses. I'm sure it's not difficult to look up, but are there any other Hall of Fame QBs with a non-winning career record besides Joe Namath?

Sonny Jurgensen says hold my beer. Which he probably would say IRL too

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JurgSo00.htm

I'm not saying Eli definitely should get in--I fully understand why he wouldn't.

What I am saying is that I can't see how Rivers would get in either, especially with the Chargers becoming a national punchline for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the past few years. You'd think a real HOF QB wouldn't be in that situation.

ALSO...Fouts just barely scrapes over the .500 mark as a starter.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FoutDa00.htm

DolFan 316 wrote:I'm not saying Eli definitely should get in--I fully understand why he wouldn't.

What I am saying is that I can't see how Rivers would get in either, especially with the Chargers becoming a national punchline for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory the past few years. You'd think a real HOF QB wouldn't be in that situation.

ALSO...Fouts just barely scrapes over the .500 mark as a starter.

I hear ya, but Rivers is a better QB than Eli. Much better INT %, much higher career QB rating, much higher completion %, more TDs, more yards, much higher winning percentage, etc. Rivers is better across the board in every meaningful category, and you could argue that Rivers is one of the most consistent QBs ever with the career stats he's put up - although some would say he's a compiler more than he is a great player. Now, Eli was an absolute BEAST in the postseason, but is that enough? Basically, I'm saying I'd put Rivers in before I put in Eli.

Fouts is absolutely borderline and I wouldn't make a strong argument on his behalf. That said, the numbers he put up from 1979 - 1981 were simply astronomical for the time...4800 yards in 1981!!!

I'm here now!

Hey, as a longtime NFL coach once said, what can Drew Brees do that Jay Fiedler can't? :-)

Eli wouldn't be lowering the Hall standards if he gets in, though his case is very similar to Jim Plunkett's: .500 record as a QB, beast in the post-season with two SB wins (Plunkett was 8-2 in the playoffs). Eli was more durable, only missing one start from 2005-2018. But..Plunkett isn't in.

However, I think he and Rivers, and maybe even Big Ben, have the same problem: 4 quarterbacks from the same era have better qualifications: Peyton, Brady, Brees and Rodgers. If you consider Warner part of the same era, that makes 5. How many from this era get in?

For point of comparison, 5 from the 1970's eventually did: Griese, Staubach, Tarkenton and Bradshaw were the no-brainers, and Stabler joined them later.

HalCHorn wrote:I'm here now!

Hey, as a longtime NFL coach once said, what can Drew Brees do that Jay Fiedler can't? :-)

Ugh...the stuff of nightmares.

HalCHorn wrote:

However, I think he and Rivers, and maybe even Big Ben, have the same problem: 4 quarterbacks from the same era have better qualifications: Peyton, Brady, Brees and Rodgers. If you consider Warner part of the same era, that makes 5. How many from this era get in?

For point of comparison, 5 from the 1970's eventually did: Griese, Staubach, Tarkenton and Bradshaw were the no-brainers, and Stabler joined them later.

That's a great point...I hadn't considered that. That's alot of QBs! It goes back to my question: were Eli and these other guys actually dominant??? Certainly there's no question about Brady, Peyton, Rodgers and Brees...but Eli, Rivers and Big Ben? I'm just not sure.

JEGnj wrote:I root for the Saints and Brees as an NFC team. It still pains me daily when our crack medical team said Brees's shoulder will never throw a pass again but Crapepper's knee will lead us to victory.

One of the worst decisions in Dolphin history.

Degarmo wrote:In this Era, Scott Mitchell would have thrown for 4,500 a year. Passing rules suck.

\

Mitchell did throw for over 4300 yards in '95, so...yeah.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MitcSc00.htm

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