If Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady starts all 16 games this season, he’ll break a little-discussed but quite impressive NFL record.
Brady has started 283 games in his career, putting him 15 games from tying and 16 games from breaking Brett Favre’s all-time NFL record of 298 games started.
Favre’s record isn’t just the record for quarterbacks, but the record for any player at any position. In his final NFL season, Favre broke the previous record of 293 starts, which was set by former Oilers/Titans offensive lineman Bruce Matthews.
On Sunday, Brady will start his 284th career game, which will tie him with Jerry Rice for the third-most starts ever.
After Brady is Jim Marshall, the Vikings great who started 277 games in the 1960s and 1970s. In sixth place all time is Drew Brees, who will start his 275th game against Brady’s Buccaneers on Sunday.
Brady vs. Brees, a game featuring a quarterback starting his 284th game against a quarterback starting his 275th game, is a special moment in NFL history. And this season we get to see it twice.