Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers passes Brett Favre on all-time TD list

FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Two decades after being drafted to Brett Favre’s team in Green Bay, quarterback Aaron Rodgers surpassed the Hall of Fame quarterback in career passing touchdowns Sunday with a 12-yard score to wide receiver DK Metcalf over New England Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III.

The touchdown gave Rodgers 509 career passing touchdowns to Favre’s 508. He later added his 510th — a 17-yard fourth-quarter scoring pass to Calvin Austin III that helped the Steelers edge the Patriots for a 21-14 victory.

Earlier in the drive, Rodgers also passed Philip Rivers to move into sixth place in all-time passing yards. Ben Roethlisberger is directly ahead of Rodgers in fifth place with 64,088 career passing yards.

The score gave Rodgers sole ownership of the fourth-most career passing touchdowns in NFL history and the most among active players. Rodgers is now 30 behind Peyton Manning’s 539 passing touchdowns.

Rodgers tied Favre with his 508th touchdown pass in the Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks with a 2-yard strike to Metcalf in the second quarter.

Before the Seahawks game, Rodgers, who had four passing touchdowns in the Week 1 win against the Jets, downplayed the possibility of passing Favre’s touchdown total.

“It’s just a longevity achievement,” Rodgers said of closing in on Favre’s mark. “A lot of guys are a part of that. Some touchdowns you make exceptional plays. Some, the scheme is so good, … all you got to do is not screw it up, and then sometimes, you throw a short one to a guy, and he goes 60, and it goes in the column the same.

“There’s been a lot of guys involved in that, including the guys blocking, the guys calling the plays. Every now and then, I made some special throws that led to touchdowns, but I’ve been playing for a long time.”

Rodgers, selected by the Packers in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft, sat behind Favre for three seasons before taking over for the Hall of Famer in 2008. Rodgers threw 475 of his touchdowns with the Packers, while Favre recorded 442 in a 16-season span in Green Bay. Rodgers added 28 in his two-season stint with the New York Jets, though he played only one season after missing 2023 with an Achilles rupture in the season opener. Favre, meanwhile, threw 44 touchdowns in two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and 22 in one season with the Jets.

Elsewhere Sunday, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford moved his way up the career passing touchdown list with two touchdown passes. The touchdowns — the 381st and 382nd of his career — moved Stafford into ninth all-time, breaking a tie with Matt Ryan. The touchdown pass traveled 44 air yards and was his first touchdown pass of at least 40 air yards since Week 11 of the 2022 season, according to ESPN Research.