Saints' Drew Brees breaks Brett Favre's NFL record for completions

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees set the NFL record for most completed passes in a career on Sunday.

Brees broke Hall of Famer Brett Favre's record by finding Michael Thomas with a 17-yard pass for his 6,301st career completion in the second quarter of Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Favre, who played 20 NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings, passed Hall of Famer Dan Marino (4,967) to initially set his completion record.

Brees now resides approximately 700 yards shy of Peyton Manning's all-time mark of 71,940 career passing yards.

"He's just been the ultimate pro, taking care of himself, being in great shape," Manning said of the 39-year-old Brees in June, according to the Times-Picayune. "It's a credit to him for playing as long as he has, at such a high level. He changed teams, which I know what that's like. That is not easy going from San Diego to New Orleans, and he's just been a great model of consistently obviously [with what] he and [Saints coach] Sean [Peyton] have been able to do in 12 years together now."

Brees set an NFL record for completion percentage (72.0) last season despite throwing for his fewest yards (4,334), touchdowns (23) and interceptions (eight) in his time with the Saints.

A former Super Bowl MVP and 11-time Pro Bowl selection, Brees entered the day having thrown for 682 yards in two games this season.

Brees started the day with 71,127 career passing yards with 493 touchdown passes and 228 interceptions in 250 contests since being made a second-round selection in the 2001 NFL Draft by the then-San Diego Chargers.