Drew Brees becomes fourth QB to throw 500 touchdowns

BALTIMORE - Another week, two more historic milestones for Drew Brees.

The New Orleans Saints quarterback became the fourth player in NFL history to throw for 500 career TD passes Sunday. And he became the third QB ever to beat all 32 NFL teams by finally besting the Baltimore Ravens in his fifth try, 24-23.

"It's a significant milestone," said Brees, who also just became the NFL's all-time passing yardage leader in his previous game, passing Peyton Manning. "But if you just focus on winning football games and just keep it very focused, then I think those things just tend to happen.

"Listen, I will forever be grateful for the opportunities I've had in the NFL. To play this game, to play on the teams I've had a chance to play on, the teammates the coaches. They're the ones that have made this so rewarding."

Brees added that he was "glad" to finally get a win over the Ravens, while rattling off some of their all-time great defensive players like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Peter Boulware, Chris McAlister, Adalius Thomas and Haloti Ngata.

"You only get to play these guys once every four years. So, not to put pressure on it -- every time we play these guys, it's been a battle." That was certainly the case this time, since the Saints didn't seal their victory until Baltimore's standout kicker, Justin Tucker, missed an extra point in the final minute.

But it was one of Brees' most impressive performances of the season since it came against a Ravens defense that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in both yards allowed and points allowed heading into the game.

Brees, 39, threw for only 212 yards and two TD passes. But he led the Saints on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives to rally the Saints (5-1) back from a 17-7 deficit in the fourth quarter. Before Sunday, the Ravens had not allowed a second-half touchdown all season. It was the 44th comeback in the fourth quarter or overtime in Brees' 18-year career.

"There's an old saying, 'It doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing to be effective.' And I think he was spot-on today in a lot of areas," Saints coach Sean Payton said of Brees' patient performance (Brees is still the only starting quarterback with zero interceptions this year and leads the NFL with a career-best passer rating of 121.6).

"We had a lot of different nuances in this plan I can't tell you - I mean, just the hours and lack of sleep. And it was spot-on with how we went about the execution and having to deal with mixed substitutions and a lot of different personnel groupings. And, man, he got is into the right play (or) out of the wrong play."