NEW ORLEANS— Drew Brees set the NFL record for yards passing in a season, breaking a mark that Dan Marino had held for 27 years, and the New Orleans Saints clinched the NFC South title with a 45-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.
Brees threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns, the last a 9-yard strike to Darren Sproles that set the record with 2:51 to go.
It was Brees' final pass of the game and it gave him 5,087 yards passing — with one game still to play. Marino finished with 5,084 yards for the Miami Dolphins in 1984.
As Sproles spiked the ball, Brees put his arm over his head and started walking toward midfield while the Superdome crowd went wild and his teammates chased him down.
Brees' four touchdowns gave him 276 for his career, moving him ahead of Joe Montana (273) and Vinny Testeverde (275) for ninth all-time. He is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 5,000 yards twice — he had 5,069 in 2008.
Brees' first scoring pass went for 8 yards to Marques Colston and the second for 9 yards to Jimmy Graham. Graham's TD catch was his 10th of the season, a new franchise high for a tight end. In the third quarter, Brees hit Robert Meachem for a score from 24 yards, which made it 28-10.
The Saints also had 463 total yards, giving them more than 6,857 offensive yards for the season, breaking the 2008 club record of 6,571 yards. New Orleans continues to close in on the NFL-record of 7,075 offensive yards in a season set by the 2000 St. Louis Rams.
Brees might have broken the record in the third quarter if not for Sproles' 92-yard kickoff return, which set up John Kasay's 29-yard field goal. Brees also was intercepted twice in the game, once in the Falcons end zone, but New Orleans was still dominant enough to take a three-score lead.
The game became a romp when Julio Jones was stripped by Scott Shanle and Malcolm Jenkins returned it 30 yards for a score to make it 38-16 in the fourth quarter. The Superdome crowd was in full celebration by then, but the play also meant fans would have to wait until later in the fourth quarter before Brees finally got his chance to break the passing record.
Uncharacteristically, Brees had only a yard passing during a span of a little more than 18 minutes. Knowing he was closing in the record, the crowd howled, "Drewwww" each time he took the field. He finally gave the fans what they wanted after Atlanta failed on a fourth-down try at its own 33. That gave Brees, who needed only 30 yards for the record at that point, just enough space to work with.
Matt Ryan had 258 yards passing and one TD, including a 21-yard scoring strike to Julio Jones that gave the Falcons a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter.
AtlNO
First downs2326
Total Net Yards469463
Rushes-yards14-3523-164
Passing434299
Punt Returns0-00-0
Kickoff Returns1-274-147
Interceptions Ret. 2-140-0
Comp-Att-Int40-61-023-39-2
Sacked-Yards Lost0-01-8
Punts3-50.02-52.0
Fumbles-Lost1-10-0
Penalties-Yards7-574-46
Time of Possession33:1926:41
Atlanta10 0 3 3—16 New Orleans 7 14 10 14—45
First Quarter
Atl—FG Bryant 34, 8:53.
NO—P.Thomas 4 run (Kasay kick), 5:25.
Atl—Jones 21 pass from Ryan (Bryant kick), 1:31.
Second Quarter
NO—Colston 8 pass from Brees (Kasay kick), 12:32.
NO—Graham 9 pass from Brees (Kasay kick), :24.
Third Quarter
NO—Meachem 24 pass from Brees (Kasay kick), 8:28.
Atl—FG Bryant 51, 4:41.
NO—FG Kasay 29, 3:04.
Fourth Quarter
Atl—FG Bryant 30, 12:43.
NO—Jenkins 30 fumble return (Kasay kick), 11:09.
NO—Sproles 9 pass from Brees (Kasay kick), 2:51.
A—70,086.
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Atlanta, Turner 11-39, Rodgers 1-(minus 1), Ryan 2-(minus 3). New Orleans, Sproles 5-67, P.Thomas 9-53, Ivory 8-35, Brees 1-9.
Passing—Atlanta, Ryan 34-52-0-373, Redman 6-9-0-61. New Orleans, Brees 23-39-2-307.
Receiving—Atlanta, White 11-127, Jones 8-128, Gonzalez 5-41, Turner 4-36, Snelling 4-28, Weems 3-33, Palmer 2-19, Rodgers 2-19, Douglas 1-3. New Orleans, Colston 7-81, Graham 4-42, Meachem 3-75, Henderson 3-30, Moore 2-53, Sproles 2-22, P.Thomas 2-4.
Missed Field Goals—None.
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