It was of course poetic that Tom Brady broke Drew Brees’ NFL record for passing yardage in a career against the Patriots. That happened on a 28-yard pass from Brady to receiver Mike Evans, and at that point, Brady had 80,359 yards to Brees’ 80,358. It took a second for the officials to figure out where the ball should be spotted, so we didn’t know at first that Brady had broken the record, but eventually, the officials made it… official.
.@TomBrady is now the all-time passing yards leader! #TheReturn
📺: #TBvsNE on NBC
📱: https://t.co/50pf7DlJse pic.twitter.com/p7nLvNJ1ru— NFL (@NFL) October 4, 2021
The Buccaneers took a timeout after that, and on the Buccaneers’ next play from scrimmage, Brady threw a quick receiver screen to Antonio Brown. Cornerback Jonathan Jones was all over it, and were it not for the efforts of receiver Chris Godwin, who got a hand on Jones and moved him out of the way, Brown could have easily lost yardage on the play.
It would have been an inauspicious follow-up to Brady’s command of yet another all-time record. Today, we warned the Steelers about the futility of flat passes to running back Najee Harris, and the same might be said of quick passes behind the line of scrimmage from Brady to Brown.
