Joe Burrow is in just his third NFL season, but he is poised to set an all-time record in one statistical category on “Monday Night Football” against the Bills.
Burrow has been one of the NFL’s most accurate quarterbacks during his career to date. He has one of the highest completion percentages in NFL history, but he isn’t yet qualified to join the league’s all-time completion percentage leaderboard.
However, he should surpass that threshold on Monday night. That will allow him to overtake his childhood idol Drew Brees for the top completion percentage in NFL history.
The only question after that happens will be about just how long Burrow can maintain the record.
Below is a breakdown of how Burrow can make NFL history on “Monday Night Football” in Week 17.
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How Joe Burrow can break Drew Brees’ completion percentage record
Burrow passing Brees for the best completion percentage in NFL history will happen; it’s just a matter of when exactly that will happen, but it will almost certainly be in Week 17 against the Bills.
Burrow just needs to pass the minimum pass attempts threshold of 1,500 to qualify for the NFL’s all-time completion percentage leaderboard. He has attempted 1,488 passes entering Week 17 (completing 1,019 of them), so that means he will need to throw just 12 times on Monday night to be added to the leaderboard.
Even if Burrow fails to complete any of those passes, his all-time completion percentage would be higher than that of Brees. He would need to begin the game with 17 consecutive incompletions to be tied with Brees during the contest.
So, it seems that Burrow will remain above Brees’ career completion percentage mark of 67.7 percent; it’s just a matter of whether he will be able to stay atop the leaderboard, something that Deshaun Watson wasn’t able to do after finding success in that area early in his career.
Burrow has a bit more cushion, as his current completion percentage is 68.5, but it will surely be something to watch throughout his career.
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Joe Burrow’s connection to Drew Brees
Burrow grew up idolizing Brees even despite living in Ohio. He revealed this after winning the Heisman and shared a heartwarming moment with the Saints quarterback before LSU’s College Football Playoff Championship Game win over Clemson.
“I know you get this a lot, but you were my idol growing up,” Burrow told Brees. “I was a Saints fan because of you.”
“I’m a @Saints fan because of you”- @Joe_Burrow10 pic.twitter.com/szSBAKSI8x
Brees had been made aware of Burrow’s fandom before the two met. He acknowledged that he was a fan of Burrow as well, noting that he liked his choice of the No. 9 jersey and Burrow’s journey from buried on the Ohio State depth chart to starring at LSU.
“You want to root for guys like that, that have to travel that tough road, face some adversity and overcome it, and come out better on the other side,” Brees said of Burrow in 2019. “He’s been fun to watch. It’s fun to watch him operate in that offense.”
The two eventually exchanged jerseys and Brees would go on to interview Burrow ahead of Super Bowl 56 while he was at NBC.
9️⃣ pic.twitter.com/XL0F0Z5XCQ
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Best completion percentage in NFL history
Below is a list of the players with the 20 best completion percentages in NFL history — with a minimum of 1,500 passing attempts — before Monday night’s Bengals vs. Bills game.
Rank Player Comp. % 1 Drew Brees 67.7 2 Jimmy Garoppolo 67.6 3 Deshaun Watson 67 4 Justin Herbert 66.9 Dak Prescott 66.9 6 Kyler Murray 66.8 7 Kirk Cousins 66.7 8 Teddy Bridgewater 66.4 9 Patrick Mahomes 66.3 10 Chad Pennington 66 11 Matt Ryan 65.6 12 Kurt Warner 65.5 13 Peyton Manning 65.3 Aaron Rodgers 65.3 Tony Romo 65.3 16 Philip Rivers 64.9 17 Russell Wilson 64.7 18 Derek Carr 64.6 19 Ben Roethlisberger 64.4 20 Tom Brady 64.3 Steve Young 64.3 Ryan Tannehill 64.3
Burrow will knock Brady, Young and Tannehill out of the top 20 by throwing 12 passes against the Bills. After that, he will be tasked with maintaining the top overall completion percentage.
Burrow’s completion percentage stands at 68.5 entering Week 17 of the 2022 NFL season.
