Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has a chance to make history anew as he's poised to erase the all-time completions record currently owned by Drew Brees when they take on the Buffalo Bills on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium.
The 44-year-old Brady has presently 7,142 completions, and he needs 17 to tie and 18 to surpass the current mark owned by Brees, who finished his career with 7,142 completions, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. It is expected that Brady will break the mark against the Bills since he hasn't thrown less than 20 completions in any game this season.
In their 30-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons, Brady completed 38 of his 51 passes for 368 yards and four touchdowns with an interception as the Buccaneers improved to an NFC South-best 9-3 mark.
Brady earlier erased three records previously owned by Brees, including the all-time passing yardage record, most games with 4-plus touchdown passes and most games with 3-plus touchdown passes. If Brady cannot break the record against the Bills, he will have another shot against Brees' former team, the New Orleans Saints.
Bucs can clinch the division title
The Buccaneers currently have a four-game lead in the NFC South over the Falcons and the Saints with five games to go in the regular season.
The Buccaneers have a chance to clinch their first division title since 2007 in Week 14 against the Bills.
However, the Buccaneers will need help from the Falcons and the New York Jets to make it happen.
Easterling explained that the Falcons must also beat the Carolina Panthers, and the Jets must defeat the Saints for the Buccaneers to clinch the division.
During his 20-year career with the New England Patriots, Brady, who recently won the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year for 2021, has enormous success against the Bills.
As their division rival in the AFC East, Brady has played the Bills 35 times with the Patriots, winning 32 of those games. In those games, Brady has completed 738 of 1,154 passes (64 percent completion) for 8,669 yards and 70 touchdowns with 25 interceptions, per Stat Muse.
Bucs preparing for playoff-caliber clash with Bills
Despite Brady's enormous success against the Bills, Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians are not leaving anything to chance.
According to Arians, the Buccaneers should not take for granted the Bills' top-ranked defense that has surrendered the second-fewest points of any team in the league this year. "It's a huge game for both teams," said Arians, adding the Bills would be determined to recover from their painful 14-10 loss to the Patriots on Sunday. The Buccaneers are putting their perfect 5-0 home record on the line in a game considered by safety Andrew Adams as a playoff game.