Drew Brees and Michael Thomas on the Cusp of More NFL History

The New Orleans Saints have already clinched their third consecutive NFC South title. They are gunning for one of the top two playoff spots in the conference to earn a first-round bye. The Saints take to the road this coming Sunday to battle the Tennessee Titans in an important contest for both teams. As the team looks to finish the regular season strong and go on a lengthy postseason run, two of the Saints’ biggest stars are also eyeing some impressive individual league records.

New Orleans QB Drew Brees has a long and distinguished list of NFL records on his Hall of Fame resume. As he proved on Monday night, he is far from finished adding to his list of accomplishments. Brees threw 4 touchdown passes in his team’s 34-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, bringing his career total to 541 scoring tosses and moving ahead of Peyton Manning into first-place on the NFL’s all-time list in that category. During the game, Brees connected on 29 of his 30 passes, a 96.7% completion percentage that set a new single-game league record. He completed his last 22 passes against the Colts, second most ever in a single game. If Brees completes his first four passes against Tennessee, he will eclipse the NFL record of 25 consecutive completions held by Philip Rivers and Nick Foles.

Brees has completed 75.8% of his attempts so far in 2019. If he maintains that level through the end of the year, he will set a new NFL record for the highest completion percentage in a single season. A mark previously set by Brees himself, with 74.4% just last year.

New Orleans wide receiver Michael Thomas is compiling quite a list of accomplishments himself in just his fourth year. Already in possession of the franchise’s best marks in both receptions and receiving yardage for a single season, Thomas is close to setting league records in both categories.

The league leader with 133 receptions this year, Thomas needs just 11 catches to surpass the single season record of 143 held by the former Colts’ WR Marvin Harrison. He has averaged 9.5 catches per game this year and has at least 10 receptions in eight of his fourteen contests this season. Thomas’ 1,552 receiving yards also leads the league and puts him within striking distance of yet another league mark. If he averages 206 yards over the final two games he will surpass the single season NFL record of 1,964 receiving yards set by Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions. While that one may be a stretch, Thomas has two career 200-Yd receiving games.

Both Brees and Thomas, who are 40 and 26 years old respectively, are more than just among the best at their positions in the National Football League. They are each generational talents that have set benchmarks for success for all future players at their positions.