Offenses lift the NFL to a higher level

Need any more evidence the NFL has become a passing league?

There have been 342 passing touchdowns through the first eight weeks -- the most in 23 years, and second only to the 346 at the midway point in 1987.

Even though New Orleans’ offense hasn’t been clicking the way it did last season, Drew Brees leads the league with 16 touchdown passes, followed by Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning and San Diego’s Philip Rivers, each with 15.

Among the more surprising twists is that Washington’s Donovan McNabb, Minnesota’s Brett Favre and Chicago’s Jay Cutler rank low among the starters with seven touchdown passes each.

Iron Manning

When the Colts play at Philadelphia on Sunday, Manning will be making his 200th consecutive start, the longest streak to start the career of any quarterback in NFL history. More than anything, though, it underscores the astounding accomplishment of Favre’s string of 292 consecutive starts.

Of the Indianapolis 200, Manning said: “Some days it does feel like [that many games], and some days it doesn’t. The fun part is that a lot of those 200 have been wins and hard-fought wins, and it’s been fun preparing for those games with all my different teammates.”

The longest starting streaks by quarterbacks in NFL history (*active):

PLAYER, TEAMS, YEARS, STARTS
Brett Favre, Packers/Jets/Vikings, 1992-, *292
Peyton Manning, Colts, 1998-, *199
Ron Jaworski, Eagles, 1977-1984, 116
Tom Brady, Patriots, 2001-2008, 111
Joe Ferguson, Bills, 1977-1984, 107
Source: NFL?

Long odds

Rumors swirled this week that Brees has been hiding a serious knee injury, and WIST radio in New Orleans reported the Saints quarterback had a fracture and torn meniscus.

Coach Sean Payton said of the report: “It’s inaccurate. It’s not right. Completely false.”

Brees, whose knee was banged up against Atlanta in Week 3 but who has not missed any time because of that injury, took it a step further. He did jumping jacks at his locker for reporters to show them he’s fine. He also told the Times-Picayune that he drop-kicked a 40-yard field goal in practice this week.

“I’m a hundred-million-billion-trillion percent sure it would hurt if I tried to drop-kick a football with a broken knee,” he said.

Rested and rebooted

Philadelphia plays host to Indianapolis on Sunday, and the Eagles are three-point favorites. It doesn’t hurt that they are coming off their bye and, under Coach Andy Reid, are 11-0 in those “welcome back” games.

It’s not just Reid’s magic, either. Since the bye was put in place in 1990, the Eagles are a league-best 17-4 after a week off. The teams with the longest win streaks following a bye (*active):

TEAM, YEARS, No.
Philadelphia Eagles, 1999-, *11
Dallas Cowboys, 1993-1999, 8
New England Patriots**, 2003-, *8
Miami Dolphins, 1990-1995, 7
Denver Broncos, 1991-1996, 7
Washington Redskins, 1996-2002, 7
**Patriots’ bye was in Week 5?
Source: NFL

Six pack Should the Steelers win at Cincinnati on Monday, Pittsburgh Coach Mike Tomlin would become the sixth coach to win his first six games on “Monday Night Football.”

Coaches who have started 6-0 in Monday night games:

HEAD COACH, TEAM Steve Mariucci , 49ers Bill Cowher, Steelers George Seifert, 49ers Tom Flores, Raiders

Don Shula, Colts/Dolphins

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