Drew Brees moves to third in career passing yards
— -- EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It took a few tries, but? Drew Brees soared past Dan Marino into third place on the NFL's career passing yardage list Sunday as the New Orleans Saints quarterback continues his torrid pace toward No. 1.
Brees' 8-yard pass to tight end Coby Fleener in the second quarter Sunday against the New York Giants lifted him above Marino's 61,361 yards, but a 1-yard loss to Tommylee Lewis on Brees' next completion dropped him into a tie with the Miami Dolphins great.
He had to wait until his next series to pass Marino for good, tossing a 5-yard completion to Brandin Cooks.
Only Peyton Manning (71,940) and Brett Favre (71,838) now stand ahead of Brees.
If the 37-year-old Brees stays healthy, he could break Manning's record early in the 2018 season, when he will be 39 years old.
It might take him until 2019 to move past Manning's record 530 touchdown passes -- Brees entered Sunday with 432 -- but both records are within reach for Brees, who has vowed to keep playing at an elite level well into his 40s.
"Just take it one game at a time right now," Brees said Wednesday when asked about his career goals. "But if we're winning games and you keep kind of making your way up the chart, then that's not such a bad thing."
Brees talked last year about how special it was to pass Marino on the career touchdowns list and the career completions list, because he recalled that the first NFL preseason game he played with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 was at Miami.
"So I'm looking around at the ring of honor, and they've got Marino and they've got all his numbers up there. And you're sitting there going, 'How in the world do you play long enough or have the ability do that?'" Brees said last year. "So [it's] humbling, but I don't think about it. I just think about winning."
Last week, Brees threw for 423 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-34 loss to the Oakland Raiders?-- just four days after signing a one-year, $24.25 million contract extension that will take him through the 2017 season.
Against the Giants in 2015, Brees tied an NFL record with seven touchdowns passes in one game.
Brees joined the Saints in 2006 and threw for 48,555 yards and 348 touchdown passes over the past 10 years -- the most of any quarterback in any 10-year span, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
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