With the Saints’ first Super Bowl victory fresh in our mind, we take a look at some of the records and milestones set in the 2009 NFL season. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning are here as well.
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* The Indianapolis Colts set a new record for consecutive regular season wins (carried over from the previous season), setting the mark at 23, after a 35-31 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The previous record was 21, held by the New England Patriots. The Colts finished the season with a 14-2 record and lost in the Super Bowl to the New Orleans Saint 31-17.
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* The Denver Broncos became the third team since 1970 to miss the playoffs after a 6-0 nothing start to the season, finishing with a 8-8 record after losing to the Chiefs on the last day of the season, 44-24. The other two teams were the 1978 Washington Redskins and the 2003 Minnesota Vikings.
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* In the Patriots 59-0 thrashing of the Tennessee Titans on October 18th, Tom Brady threw an NFL record five touchdown passes in the second quarter, leading New England to a 45-0 halftime lead, another NFL record. Brady finished the game with 380 yards and six touchdown passes, with Randy Moss catching three of them. The Patriots finished the season with a 10-6 record, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round 33-14.
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* Kurt Warner set a new NFL record for completion percentage in a single game, making 24 of his 26 passes as the Cardinals beat the Jaguars 31-17. Warner finished the game with 243 yards and 2 touchdown passes. The Cardinals finished the season with a 10-6 record, reaching the divisional playoff round were they got beat up by the Saints 45-14.
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* Again with the Broncos, this time a positive record, as Brandon Marshall broke Terrell Owens’ single-game reception record, catching 21 passes in the Broncos 28-16 loss to the Colts on December 13. Marshall finished with 200 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
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* Aaron Rodgers became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 4,000+ yards in each of his first two seasons as a starter. Rodgers threw for 4,434 yards and 30 touchdowns, leading the Packers into the playoffs and making his first pro-bowl game.
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* Drew Brees, the Super Bowl winning quarterback of the New Orleans Saints set a new regular season record for completion percentage in a season. Brees completed 363 passes out of 515 attempts, a 70.6% success rate. He narrowly beat Ken Anderson’s 70.55% from 1982. Brees finished the season with 4,388 yards and 34 touchdowns.
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* January 10, 2010 – The game that will be now known as the shootout – NFC wild card round, the Arizona Cardinals beat the Green Bay Packers in overtime 51-45, combining for 96 points, a new NFL playoff record. Kurt Warner threw for 379 yards and 5 touchdowns, Rodgers threw for 423 yards and 4 touchdowns. Two Packers (Finley & Jennings) and one Cardinal (Breaston) finished with 100+ receiving yards. Funny things is, the Cardinals won thanks to Karlos Dansby returning a fumble for a touchdown.