Drew Brees Sets Passing Record

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed for 307 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Saints to a 45-16 rout of the Atlantic Falcons in New Orleans on Monday Night Football December 26th.  Brees finished the game with 5,087 yards passing for the season, breaking former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino’s 27 year old record of 5,084.  The Saints have won the NFC South and can still get a first round bye in the playoffs if they win against the Carolina Panthers on New Year’s Day and the San Francisco 49ers lose to the hapless St. Louis Rams.

The night was not without controversy.  After Atlanta turned the ball over on downs at their own 33 yard line with less than three minutes to play and Brees needing 30 passing yards to set the record Saints coach Sean Payton decided to have his QB go for the record.  New Orleans already led 38-16 lead so this has been viewed by some as running up the score.  That’s because it is indeed running up the score, and the Saints do have one more game left in the regular season, so he’d have another chance.  Nonetheless the decision was made and the record was broken.

NFC Division rival Atlanta is in the playoffs as a Wild Card team as well.  Though publicly the Falcons’ players were not upset over the Saints running up the score, some players were indeed grumbling about it.  It’s possible the Saints and Falcons could meet again in the playoffs, and certainly will twice again next season, so Atlanta will have some additional motivation whenever they play again