Rodgers Ties Favre for Most TD Passes in Packers History
Someday, perhaps some hot-shot Green Bay Packers quarterback will look at the team record book, like Aaron Rodgers used to do before games, and be in awe of Rodgers’ astronomical number of touchdown passes.
As a young starter, Rodgers recalled on Wednesday, he’d sit at his locker before games and page through the game program. That’s where he’d see Brett Favre’s 442 career touchdown passes—the most in Packers history. It wasn’t until 2010, Rodgers’s sixth season in the NFL and third year as Green Bay’s starter, that he broke into the top five on the franchise list. It wasn’t until 2011 that he even reached 100 career touchdowns.
“I remember looking at the number of touchdowns that Favrey had and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, I’m not even at 100 yet,” Rodgers said. “How could I ever play long enough to be in this same category as that?’ But, obviously, I’ve been able to stay pretty healthy and have some sustained success. That’s a special one just because of the history of the franchise and how long our franchise has been around and how many great players have come through here. The opportunity to be here 17 years and the longevity records, as Favrey I remember used to talk about when he was here, to be a part of some of those is pretty cool.”
Favre reacted on Twitter late Sunday night.
Rodgers tied Favre’s record during Sunday’s 31-30 victory at the Baltimore Ravens. Rodgers started the day with 439 touchdown passes, ended it with 422 and should have broken it with 423.
His first touchdown on Sunday was a 3-yarder to Davante Adams. It was one of the easiest touchdowns of Rodgers’ career. Adams was matched against a practice squad cornerback, Robert Jackson, and won with predictable ease. It was the 65th touchdown pass to Adams of Rodgers’s career, tying Rodgers-to-Jordy Nelson for the most prolific duo in franchise history.
The second touchdown came midway through the third quarter, a 9-yarder to running back Aaron Jones. The degree of difficult on this one was pretty low, too. Allen Lazard picked linebacker Josh Bynes, allowing Jones to turn his route upfield for an easy score. That one put the Packers ahead 21-14.
The tying score came early in the fourth quarter, an 11-yard to Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a slant against the aforementioned Jackson. Valdes-Scantling caught the ball at the 4 and dove into the end zone to give Green Bay a 28-17 lead.
“Marquez is a special human being,” Rodgers said afterward. “He really has a great personality. I could feel confidence-wise, he’s been a little up and down. To be able to have him come out tonight and play the way he played, catch the record-tying touchdown, I think was very apropos of football and the beauty and the redemption stories that happen every single week. So, I’m really happy for Marquez and happy as well that I can hopefully break it at home in front of our fans.”
That third touchdown gave Rodgers 30 for the season for the eighth time of his career. Drew Brees has the record with 10, followed by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Favre with nine.
Rodgers’ milestone touchdowns: No. 1 to Greg Jennings vs. Dallas in 2007, No. 100 to James Jones vs. Atlanta in 2011, No. 200 to Davante Adams vs. Minnesota in 2014, No. 300 to Ty Montgomery vs. Atlanta in 2017 and No. 400 to Adams vs. Philadelphia in 2020.
Who will be the recipient of No. 423, potentially on Christmas against the Cleveland Browns?
“There is something special about being able to do it at home,” Rodgers said after the game.
He should have thrown No. 423 during the fourth quarter. Rodgers had Lazard open in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 11 but threw it too far. Not only should Rodgers have broken the record on that play, he should have ended the game on that play. Instead, given a stay of execution, the Ravens staged a furious rally and were a two-point conversion from taking the lead with less than 1 minute to go.
“The competitor in me is a little upset I didn’t just trust that the outside route was going to hold the corner long enough,” Rodgers said. “When I was about to throw it, I felt like I was kind of in no man’s land and I threw him kind of a 50 percent catch, 50 percent incompletion ball instead of trusting the corner was going to attach to the outside route and that we really had a chance to get him there. Also, three-man rush, I probably had a little more time than I thought. But, of course, there’s definitely stuff inside me that’s excited about the prospect of doing it at home in front of our fans.”
Otherwise, Rodgers was mostly brilliant. He completed 23-of-31 passes for 268 yards with three touchdowns and a 132.2 passer rating. In his last four games, in which Green Bay topped 30 points all four times, Rodgers has 13 touchdowns vs. zero interceptions.
Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale arrived late to his media availability on Thursday. His troubles were two-fold. One, his secondary had been slammed by injuries. And, two, Rodgers had gotten on one of his MVP-style rolls.
“This is one of those quarterbacks—just like the players want to talk about [Michael] Jordan, LeBron [James], Kobe [Bryant]—I think that with [Peyton] Manning, [Aaron] Rodgers, [Drew] Brees, they’re on the Mount Rushmore of quarterbacks in this league. It’s just one of those things, you’ve got to know that he’s going to make plays. It’s part of this league. I have nothing but respect for this league and for what he’s done in this league. And it’s his offense. It’s definitely his offense, and he runs it, and he runs it really well.”
Rodgers entered Sunday with 439 touchdowns vs. 93 interceptions in his Green Bay career. Favre threw 442 touchdowns with 286 interceptions. With Rodgers averaging 6.6 interceptions per season as the starter, he’d have to play 29 more seasons to match Favre’s infamous total.
Rodgers ranks fifth in NFL history in touchdown passes; Favre ranks fourth with 508. Rodgers is 10th with 54,464 passing yards. So long as he stays healthy, he should surpass Eli Manning’s ninth-ranked 57,023 next season.
