Philip Rivers has entered the top five on the NFL’s all-time passing yards list, passing Dan Marino during the first quarter of the Indianapolis Colts’ Week 10 game against the Tennessee Titans. Rivers completed an 11-yard pass to Jonathan Taylor pass Marino on Indianapolis’ first play from scrimmage and that moved him to No. 5 overall on the all-time passing list. Rivers will need a few more seasons to catch Brett Favre for fourth as the Hall of Famer notched 71,838 passing yards in his 20-year career.
Rivers has played 16 seasons with the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers before joining the Indianapolis Colts this year, throwing for 4,000+ yards in 11 seasons while leading the league in touchdown passes, passer rating, and passing yards once — and yards per attempt three times. The eight-time Pro Bowl selection won the league’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 2013.
Drew Brees is the league’s all-time passing yards leader with 79,536 — 464 away from becoming the first player to reach 80,000. Tom Brady sits second with 76,969 yards, followed by Peyton Manning with 71,940. Favre is fourth and Rivers is fifth, followed by Marino at sixth with 61,361 yards. Marino retired after the 1999 season as the NFL‘s all-time passing leader.
Rivers became just the sixth quarterback to throw 400 touchdown passes in his career earlier this season. He is chasing Marino to enter the top five on that list, as the Miami Dolphins legend has 420 for his career. Rivers is the first quarterback to throw his 400th touchdown pass with the Colts, has Manning sat at 399 before signing with the Denver Broncos as a free agent in 2012 — where he threw his 400th career touchdown pass.
Rivers’ Hall of Fame candidacy is starting to get more complete as he continues to move up the all-time passing list in a number of categories. Even if he fails to land a Super Bowl, it will be hard to ignore the final numbers when his career does come to a close.
