Tom Brady’s one-yard touchdown pass to Danny Amendola was about as normal of a throw as you’ll see. It was a basic throw to a wide open receiver that put the Patriots up on the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-3. He’s done it plenty of times in his NFL career. So many times, in fact, that such plays have helped him reach an elite club that only a select few NFL quarterbacks are a part of.
The completion to Amendola was Brady’s 400th career touchdown pass. There weren’t a whole lot of fireworks and excitement on the reception but, with the throw, Brady joined elite company – Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Dan Marino – among quarterbacks with 400 or more career touchdown passes. It seems unlikely that he’ll catch Manning, who has thrown for 533 touchdowns during his career and has at least 14 more regular season games to build on that. Favre seems like he could be a bit of a stretch, as he’s sitting at 508, but Brady has said that he plans on playing for another seven or eight years, so he has a shot if he really can play until he’s 45.
At the very least, passing Marino seems like a foregone conclusion. Brady has shown no signs of slowing down, and can definitely get the 21 touchdowns required to pass Marino’s career mark of 420 by the end of the season.