AP

Saints quarterback Drew Brees passed for 312 yards in Thursday night’s win over the Falcons, and in doing so he became just the second player in NFL history with 90 games of at least 300 passing yards.

That moves Brees to within striking distance of Peyton Manning, who owns the NFL record with 92 games of at least 300 passing yards.

Given the players’ ages and their current quality of play, Brees seems a near certainty to break Manning’s record, probably this year. Brees has topped 300 yards in four of his five games this season, while Manning has topped 300 yards only once in five games this season. If both players keep playing the way they’ve been playing, Brees will break Manning’s record within the next month or so. No one else is close to Manning and Brees on the 300-yard games list; Tom Brady is in third place, with 66.

Brees is already the record holder for 300-yard games in a season (13 in 2011) and consecutive 300-yard games (nine, a streak he has accomplished on two separate occasions). He’ll soon have every 300-yard game record in the book.