Brees Breaks Record, but Will it Hold?

I'm not touching on some steroids conspiracy or tainted records, more the forgotten fact that Tom Brady is on the tail of Drew Brees' freshly broken passing yardage record...and he even has a chance to take it. With one week left, Drew Brees passed the quarter century long record of 5,084 passing yards by Dan Marino on a touchdown late in the fourth quarter of last night's game, helping the Saints to a win and home-playoff birth, and most notably, a virtually guaranteed place in Canton. Though the game wasn't his best of the year with two interceptions, he managed to get what he needed...but not much more than that.

In fact, with not much left to play for, the Saints QB is only 109 yards ahead of the Pats Tom Brady. The Pats are still battling for homefield throughout the playoffs, a pretty big deal when, or if, December weather rolls into New England. Add into that equation the fact that Brady is facing the Bills defense, who held him to no less than 387 yards the first time around.

So...in reality, Brady playing through much of the game could very likely happen. Brees sitting for most of the game could as well....and if Brady ends up with 109 yards more than a sitting Brees, the record goes to everyone's favorite Patriot...well you get the point.

The question now becomes, what do the Saints do? They went for the record last night despite having a 22 pt lead with 2 minutes to go, which made me think for a second that maybe Brees would take it easy next week...But then, if they would risk the player in week 16, why would they simply let him give up the record a week later? Carolina's defense isn't what you'd call "scary" and the pass-rush was anything but a rush last night for the most part, leaving Brees upright and un-injured. Will they risk it again in a completely meaningless game?

Now IF the 49ers lose to the Rams, the Saints can get the #2 seed overall...so there is technically something on the line, but given the state of the Rams, I think Waukesha High could probably sew up that game. The Saints have never been the team to play scared so I'm betting Brees plays at least a half....more if Brees gets to make the decision (with how he said he got emotional before last nights game, I'm thinking the record means quite a bit), and especially more if the Rams are int he game... but it will be interesting to see. With Brady being easily able to put up 350 and being much more in control of their destiny, they pats are sure to play the entire game tough...will the saints risk the coveted record for safety?

Now...it may all be a moot point. With two QBs set to break the record this year, three possible, I can only imagine the number of contenders will grow each year and that passing records, at least bulk numbers, will all begin to fall with a bit of regularity. It's still a great record to you have to give it up to Brees. He's a class-act guy and you couldn't hope for a better player to break the record. I just wouldn't be surprised to see it broken a few more times during his career, if not in this year as well.