Late in the fourth quarter of tonight’s Monday Night Football game, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees broke the 27 year old single season passing yards record of Dan Marino. Brees needed 305 yards entering the night to set the record and looked well on his way after throwing for over 200 in the first half. After the Saints defense and special teams stepped up in the second half, Brees needed just 30 yards on a drive with just over five minutes left in the game. The Saints came out throwing and Brees broke the record on a nine yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles.

The ESPN crew did a solid job tracking the record tonight, referencing its importance but not allowing it to completely dominate and overshadow the game (although the giant graphics may have been a bit much at times). In truth, Brees’ march throughout the season in breaking one of the most important records in NFL history has been incredibly quiet until tonight. Brees has been overshadowed by players and stories like Aaron Rodgers and Tim Tebow much of the year, but tonight was his night.

First, here’s the video of the Brees touchdown pass to Sproles and Mike Tirico’s call of the record breaker…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bgWq_5_Jbpc?hd=1

But the highlight of the night may actually be Brees’ locker room speech afterwards that was caught on camera by ESPN. It is amazing that ESPN was able to capture this locker room footage and speech from Brees to his teammates. This locker room speech by Brees is as pure as a sporting moment you will find and an awesome moment for sports fans anywhere to see. The way Brees gives praise to his teammates gives you a window into what makes him one of the all-time greats to play the game and one of the most respected and popular athletes around. And the spontaneous “that’s what she said” moment adds just enough laughs to perfect the moment. It’s a remarkable must-see video from inside the Saints locker room…

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3l10tBR6lBo

A big shout out to ParadigmShift35 from Throw The Flag for the locker room video!