Drew Brees Breaks Dan Marino's Single-Season Passing Yard Record

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees broke Dan Marino's 27-year-old record of 5,084 passing yards in a season in dramatic fashion as he threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to running back Darren Sproles over the middle of the field with 2:51 seconds left in his team's 45-16 victory on Monday night.

The touchdown was immediately followed by a standing ovation for the new record holder as well as an announcement over the PA system. Brees finished with 307 passing yards, four passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Brees came into the game needing only 305 passing yards to break the record.

Brees stood on the sideline receiving congratulations from multitudes of teammates and coaching staff members as he held the record-breaking football in the air. The longer the crowd continued to cheer, the more teary-eyed Brees got. Before the game was even over, photographers were lining up Brees with his offensive linemen for a photo shoot to show the sporting world the new standard for a historic passing offense in the National Football League.

Brees also could not have performed so well at any better of a time. The Saints QB gave his record-breaking performance to beat the Atlanta Falcons and put his team one win away from a potential No. 2 seed in the NFC for the playoffs. For that to happen, the Saints will need to win against the Carolina Panthers next week and have the San Francisco 49ers lose to the St. Louis Rams. Brees now goes into the final game of the season two yards ahead of the former record.

Dan Marino congratulated Brees through his Twitter account, saying, "Congrats to @drewbrees. Great job by such a special player."

One final side note: Brees has thrown a touchdown pass in 42 consecutive games. This streak is only six games shy of breaking Johnny Unitas' record of 47 straight games.