With his third touchdown pass on "Monday Night Football," New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees broke Peyton Manning's NFL record for touchdown passes with 540. Brees set the record with a 5-yard pass to tight end Josh Hill with 7:08 left in the third quarter and he added No. 541 a few minutes later when he connected with fellow quarterback Taysom Hill on a 28-yard scoring pass.
Brees entered Monday's game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 537 touchdown passes, one behind New England quarterback Tom Brady and two behind Manning, the New Orleans native who starred for the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos. Brees matched Brady with a 15-yard strike to star receiver Michael Thomas with 12:37 to play in the second quarter.
Brees tied Manning with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Tre'Quan Smith with 6:11 left in the second quarter.
Brees, in his 19th year out of Purdue, now owns or shares four of the major passing records in NFL history with the fifth possibly falling in the regular-season finale at Carolina. Brees is the NFL's leader in all-time passing yards, all-time completions, completions percentage and now touchdowns. After Monday's game he'll be about 70 passes away from Brett Favre's record for attempts (10,169).
