During the course of his legendary, 23-year NFL career, Tom Brady has already re-written the NFL record books.
He could add two more records this season.
Through 13 games, the 45-year-old Brady not only leads the NFL in passing attempts and completions on the season. He’s on pace to throw and complete the most passes in a single season in NFL history, as pointed out by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
Brady has completed 381 passes on 579 attempts so far this year. That puts him on pace to throw 757 passes and complete 498, assuming he plays all 17 games.
The current record for pass attempts in a season is 727, set by Matthew Stafford in 2012. Brady currently holds the record for completions at 485, a mark he reset last season.
Obviously, the NFL’s switch to a 17-game schedule has played a role in Brady closing in on those records. Still, even if this were a 16-game season, Brady would be on pace to attempt 713 passes and complete 469, both of which would rank second all-time prior to last season.
That Brady, who famously retired last off-season before reversing his decision and returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been leaned on so heavily is impressive.
That said, the fact that he has attempted that many passes and still ranks fourth in the NFL in passing yards and 13th in touchdowns illustrates the struggles for Brady and the Bucs’ offense.
Brady’s current mark of 6.2 yards per attempt is on pace to be his lowest mark since he took over as the Patriots’ starter in 2001.
Don’t expect the passing volume to slow down anytime soon, however. The Bucs have struggled mightily to get anything going on the ground this season. They rank last in the NFL in rushing at 72.9 yards per game.
Brady and the Bucs suffered one of their worst defeats of the season last week when they lost 35-7 to the San Francisco 49ers, who started rookie third-string quarterback Brock Purdy.
They will look to get back on track this week when Brady faces off with Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals travel to Tampa.
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