Drew Brees and Peyton Manning helped define a generation of quarterbacks in the 21st century.
While they rarely met on the field, recording only four matchups during their 15 years in the NFL together, they set the standard for accurate and prolific quarterbacks who had total command of their offense. Brees emerged victorious in the most significant battle between the two—Super Bowl XLIV, in which Brees's New Orleans Saints beat Manning's Indianapolis Colts, 31-17. Manning retired following the 2015 season, but Brees had one last win over Manning in him before he hung up his own cleats.
Six years ago to the date of this article's publishing, Brees broke Manning's all-time NFL passing yards record of 71,940 career passing yards. He did so while playing on Monday Night Football and there was a lot of fanfare around the whole thing, including a hilarious pre-recorded message from Manning himself.
From the archives of the Saints' YouTube page, here's what Manning said to Brees after his record was broken after an intro that jokingly alluded to Brees being on pace to break Manning's touchdown record, too.
"Drew, for 1,000 days I've held the record for all-time passing yards in the NFL. And I gotta tell you, it's been the greatest 1,000 days of my life. Thanks to you, that's over now and you've ruined that for me. So thank you very much. I have nothing left to look forward to except slicing my tomatoes, making dinner for my family, putting together this wedge salad. Also, let this serve as a congratulations for the touchdown record because as you can see I'm very busy and I don't have time to keep doing these videos for you congratulating you."
Manning knows how to deliver a punchline. However, he did shift into a more sincere mode for the rest of the video.
"But in all seriousness, Drew, congratulations on this record," Manning said. "You've done it the right way. All your hard work and dedication have paid off. You and I have come a long way since this picture back in 2000 when you were in college and I was in my third year in the NFL.
Way to go, proud of you, good luck the rest of the way."
As Manning noted, Brees would indeed go on to break his all-time touchdown record, too. About a year after breaking the passing yards record, Brees passed Manning's record of 539 all-time touchdown passes by throwing No. 540 against the Colts in December 2019. Brees would go on to finish his career with 571.
Both men can take solace in Tom Brady shattering both the passing yards and touchdown passes records shortly thereafter.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Lookback: Peyton Manning Had Such a Funny Message After Drew Brees Broke His Record.
