Predicting NFL Records That Will Fall During the 2015 Season

Records are made to be broken, or so the old saying goes.

That certainly holds true in the National Football League. Not a season goes by where we don't see records fall, be they the sort set in a single year or those that take a career to surpass.

The 2015 season is sure to be no exception. Whether it's a future Hall of Famer adding the few passing records he doesn't already have to his constantly growing resume, a rising star continuing to stake his own claim to a bust in Canton or a change in rules that could lead to a date with the history books, records will fall in 2015.

Here's a look at some of the most likely candidates.

Pass Completions, Career

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Current record-holder: Brett Favre (6,300)

Closest active player: Peyton Manning (5,927)

Peyton Manning is a selfish jerk. There, I said it.

It's the only way to describe a player who just has to make sure his name is at the top of every list of just about everything a quarterback can be at the top of a list for.

Most career touchdown passes? Manning, with 530.

Most single-season passing yards (5,477) and touchdown passes (55)? Manning and Manning.

Most seasons with over 4,000 passing yards? Manning, with 14.

NFL MVP awards? Manning has five.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Well, that chunk of ice is about to get bigger. Manning needs 373 completions in 2015 to tie Brett Favre for the most in the history of the NFL. His 374th will give Manning the record all to himself.

And Manning has hit that benchmark every year since losing the entire 2011 season to a neck injury.

Oh well. At least Favre will always have this.

And you can't put a price on a man's dignity, right?

Right?

Passing Yardage, Career

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Current record-holder: Brett Favre (71,838)

Closest active player: Peyton Manning (69,691)

Sure, why not?

I mean, if you're going to hog passing records, you might as well just go all in and take them all.

In fact, not only does Manning (barring injury) appear to be a virtual lock to surpass Brett Favre's record of 71,838 career passing yards in 2015, but as ESPN's Kevin Seifert pointed out, the stars have seemingly aligned for his assault on that mark to end where it began.

"If Peyton Manning produces at his career averages," Seifert tweeted, "he'll become the NFL's all-time passing leader in Week 9—at Indianapolis. No accident."

Don't feel bad, Brett.

Sure, by the end of the 2015 season Manning will have surpassed you just about everywhere. But at least your career passing attempts record is safe—for now.

And those 336 career interceptions? That record may never fall.

Feel better now?

If not, maybe some of these will help.

Pro Bowls, Career

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Current record-holder: Four players tied with 14

Closest active player: Peyton Manning (14)

OK, so this is getting ridiculous.

By the end of the 2015 season, Peyton Manning will own just about every single-season and career record worth owning where quarterbacks are concerned.

But noooo, that's not good enough for good old No. 18. Manning doesn't just want to win the beauty pageant.

He has to be Miss Congeniality too.

Granted, the Pro Bowl has a lot less to do with how good a season a particular player had than how popular that player is, whether it's with fans or their peers.

You can bag on the festivities in Honolulu all you want. The vote's a popularity contest. The game's a sham.

However, that doesn't change the fact that with his next selection, Manning will break a four-player logjam that includes Merlin Olsen, Tony Gonzalez and Bruce Matthews, becoming the first player in NFL history to be named to 15 Pro Bowls.

And unless Manning gets abducted by aliens or the Monstars steal his talent, the 39-year-old is going to be named to the Pro Bowl in 2015.

Playoff Starts, Career

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Current record-holder: Jerry Rice (29)

Closest active player: Tom Brady (26)

Oh my goodness. An actual, honest-to-goodness record exists that could be broken in 2015 by a quarterback not named Peyton Manning.

Who knew?

Well, actually, this record wouldn't fall until early 2016, and there are a few things that have to break right for Tom Brady to catch or pass Jerry Rice's record of 29 postseason starts this season.

For starters, the New England Patriots have to make the playoffs. That may be a pretty safe bet, but the Patriots have to not be too good. If the Pats earn a first-round bye, Brady can only tie Rice.

And that's only if Brady can guide the Patriots all the way to Super Bowl 50, where he would have an opportunity to also become the first quarterback to win five Lombardi Trophies.

Still, even with the long wait to try and the uphill climb, this is a record Brady is surely chomping at the bit to make a run at.

After all, the Golden Boy likely wants to put 2015 in the rearview mirror just as soon as he possibly can.

Heard he hit a bump in the road. Something about the air pressure in something.

Sacks, Season

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Current record-holder: Michael Strahan (22.5)

Let's get one thing clear off the bat. As records go, this is one that by all rights should already have been broken.

And yet again, it's Brett Favre's fault.

After all, it was Favre who served up the single-season sack record to Michael Strahan on a platter back in 2001.

Nothing shady about this play.

However, the record is Strahan's—for now. There have been players that have come close. Both Jared Allen (with the Minnesota Vikings in 2011) and Justin Houston (a year ago with the Kansas City Chiefs) have hit the 22-sack plateau in the past five years. J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans has eclipsed 20 sacks two of the past three seasons.

Houston exploded for four sacks in last year's season finale just to get to 22, but Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said in December that if anyone's going to break the record, his money's on the 26-year-old:

"

You guys aren't out there after practice but he stays out another half-hour after practice just working different moves and the pass game. Him and Tamba [Hali], anytime the offense is up, they are on the sideline working all their hand games. The two and a half hours that he's out there, he's out there practicing his trade so you respect that.

"

Given all the wildly talented young pass-rushers in the NFL, it's just a matter of time until Strahan's mark falls—preferably without any chicanery.

I'm calling my shot. Watt does it this year, racking up 24 sacks for the Texans.

Yes, 24.

If I'm going to swing, it might as well be for the fences.

Two-Point Conversions, Career

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Current record-holder: Marshall Faulk (7)

Closest active player: Matt Forte (5)

If this record falls in 2015, we'll have the NFL rulebook to thank.

Or maybe not. Despite rampant speculation that the recent rule changes regarding extra points will result in more teams attempting two-point conversions, Baltimore Ravens guard (and math scholar) John Urschel wrote for the Players' Tribune that he doesn't see it happening (h/t Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun):

"

It doesn't take a probability theorist to know that the expected points (the sum of each possible point outcome times the likelihood of each occurring) of the two-point conversion is now higher than that of an extra point kick:

E(two-point conversion) = 2x.479 + 0x(1-.479) = .958 points
E(extra point) = 1x.928 + 0x(1-.928) = .928 points

It's simple math, right? The expected points for two-point conversions is greater, so of course all 32 NFL teams are going to do away with extra points and go for two every time, right?

Not so fast. Just because the expected points of one endeavor is greater than the other, doesn't mean it is what coaches are going to do.

"

Um, OK. I'll take his word for it on that first part.

However, it remains entirely possible we'll see an uptick in conversion tries. And the biggest beneficiary from that uptick would seem to be running backs, whether they try to get that two yards via goal-line dive or a pass in the flat.

And it just so happens the NFL's active leader in two-point conversions, Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears, is a running back.

Isn't that Forte-tous?

Sorry. Couldn't be helped.