Six quarterbacks in NFL record had tossed 400 score passes before Aaron Rodgers arrived at that achievement Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
None of them did it as fast as Rodgers.
Not Drew Brees, Peyton Manning nor Tom Brady. Not Dan Marino, Brett Favre nor Philip Rivers.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback arrived at 400 score passes for his profession in his 193rd customary season game. That is 12 less games than Brees, who was beforehand the quickest to 400.
On his achievement day, Rodgers completed 25-of-34 passing for 295 yards with three scores and no interferences in Green Bay’s 30-16 triumph that pushed the Packers to 9-3, one game behind the New Orleans Saints in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC end of the season games.
Rodgers, who turned 37 on Wednesday, started the day requiring three score passes to arrive at 400. With those three scores Sunday, he additionally arrived at 36 for the year, giving him his fifth season with at any rate 35 scores – the most such seasons in NFL history. He had been attached with Brady, Brees and Manning at four each.
“Those are fun milestones for sure,” Rodgers said. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to hold on to the second one. There’s some really good young quarterbacks I’m guessing are amassing some numbers in that vicinity. But it does speak to the consistency over a long period of time that I’m very proud of.”
After a four-score game the earlier week against the Chicago Bears, Rodgers tossed two more in the primary half against the Eagles. No. 398 went ahead fourth-and-objective from the 1-yard line, a blur to Davante Adams, who tied a Packers record with score gets in seven continuous games (Don Hutson did it twice during the 1940s).
Vocation score No. 399 came in the last moment of the subsequent quarter, when Rodgers barely evaded a sack so as to discover Robert Tonyan all the way open down the field for a 25-yarder.
No. 400 came in the second from last quarter and went to who else however Adams. It covered a 99-yard drive Rodgers began with a 42-yard bomb to Adams from the rear of his own end zone.
“[My teammates] didn’t say a whole lot during the week, but it’s always interesting to see who gets the milestone throw,” Rodgers said. “Pretty cool that Davante got it. I didn’t do a whole lot on that play. It was a really good schemed play. He did the whole thing, stiff-armed his way into the end zone. But yeah, it was fun to have those milestones back-to-back weeks. Like I said last week, a lot of it is longevity, but there also is some consistent play tied to it.”
Adams introduced the ball to Rodgers after the play, which provoked previous Packers wide recipient James Jones to commend Adams for his mindfulness. Jones tweeted that he tossed Rodgers’ 100th vocation score pass into the stands.
“Like four hours before the game, I saw somebody tweeted me — I was on Twitter and somebody tweeted out that he needed three more, he was at 397, he needed three more,” Adams said. “So I made everybody on the team aware who’s a pass-catcher. I said, ‘Whoever catches the third touchdown today, don’t throw the ball, keep the ball,’ because I don’t think Aaron has any of his century-mark touchdown passes.
“It’s something special to be a part of that, because I caught I believe his 200th — that was my first touchdown — so I got to keep that ball, he let me keep that one. And then 300 I think Ty [Montgomery] kept or gave to the ref. To be able to get 400, man, it’s awesome. It’s a lot of touchdowns to throw. It’s cool for me, but I think he wins in the coolness department on that.”
Rodgers is the main quarterback who had less than 100 block attempts (he has 88) at the time he arrived at 400 scores.
“Now, I’m going to see if I can get to 500 before I throw 100 picks,” Rodgers said.