Aaron Rodgers is accustomed to taking the mantle from Brett Favre. On Sunday, the 21-year veteran quarterback leapfrogged the Hall of Famer in yet another category.
With his second touchdown pass for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday against the New England Patriots, Rodgers overtook Favre for fourth place on the NFL’s career passing touchdown leader list with 509. The four-time NFL MVP now stands behind only Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571) and Peyton Manning (539).
Rodgers took the lead with a 12-yard fade to DK Metcalf in the second quarter.
He tied Favre in last week’s 31-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks when Metcalf came down with a jump ball for a 2-yard score in the second quarter.
‘It’s just a longevity achievement,’ Rodgers said earlier in September when asked about the feat. ‘Some touchdowns, you make exceptional plays. Some, the scheme is so good, like the one to (running back) Jaylen (Warren) in the game – all I’ve got to do is not screw it up. And then sometimes you throw a short one to a guy and he goes 60 and it goes in the column all the same.
Rodgers put himself on the precipice of breaking Favre’s mark by throwing four touchdowns in his Steelers debut in Week 1 against the New York Jets, for whom both quarterbacks played after their respective splits with the Packers.
‘So there’ve been a lot of guys involved in that, including the guys blocking, the guys calling the plays. Every now and then, I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I’ve been playing a long time. It’s a longevity thing that, you know, I’m proud of, but it’s not a big deal.’
In 2021, Rodgers broke Favre’s Green Bay Packers franchise record for career touchdowns when he threw his 443rd scoring strike with the organization. However, he still remains more than 8,000 yards off Favre’s fourth-place standing (71,838) among the league’s career passing yardage leaders. On Sunday, however, Rodgers passed Philip Rivers (63,440) for sixth place on the yardage list.