New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed Fran Tarkenton for sixth place on the all-time passing yards list. Tarkenton's one time NFL record of 47,003 yards passing has now been passed six times. As an itty bitty Minnesota Vikings fan in the 1970s, Tarkenton was my first favorite football player. I even had his likeness on a birthday cake. Special stuff. I remember when Tarkenton broke all of John Unitas' all-time passing records. Touchdowns, attempts, completions, and the passing yards. All of them. Tarkenton at one time had every significant passing record in the books. He actually held those records for nearly twenty years. Dan Marino ended up shattering every one of them. Brett Favre made them his before he retired for the final time. The way that quarterbacks are throwing the ball these days no passing record is safe.
After passing Tarkenton, Brees now has Warren Moon in his sites. He's a little more than 2,000 yards behind Moon so fifth place should be his before this season is done. He might even be able to reach John Elway's 51,475 yards and fourth place.
Peyton Manning is currently in third at 60,957 yards. With the way that he's throwing the ball, he should pass Marino's 61,361 yards as soon as this Sunday. Favre's NFL record of 71,838 yards should be safe for a couple of years. Manning isn't slowing down at the age of 37. Brees, at 34, likely has even more years ahead of him. I think that Favre's records fall to one or both.
For now, congratulations Drew Brees on passing my childhood hero.
No comments:
Post a Comment