If you sensed that Drew Brees’ performance Monday night vs. the Patriots was “uniquely special” then what you are about to read should stun you!!  Where does  Brees’ stat line of 18-23, 371 yds., 5 TD’s, 0 INT’s fit in the history of Pro Football (since 1892) --- Enjoy:

As most fans know, the max passer rating a QB can attain is 158.3. This is considered a “perfect game” or max available rating given the formula used.  In the history of Pro football (even before the NFL) the total number of pro games played is a bit over 12,750 games giving us over 25,500 opportunities for QB’s to have attained the perfect rating (2 QB’s ea game).

Monday night, Drew Brees  was the 58th player to accomplish a “perfect rating” for his performance  (remember this is of over 25,500 opportunities) – Impressive and special...but it gets better.  

First, a little background info on how a passer rating is determined and the max. limits that are added to a “special formula” to attain a QB’s overall passer rating for a game are:

1.       Comp % - max allowed 77.5%. (Mon. night, Drew  78.2%)

2.       Yds/Attempt – max allowed 12.5 yds. (Mon. night Drew 16.1 yds/att)

3.       TD’s to % of passes att.  –  (Mon night, Drew  21.7%)

4.        INT’s – (Mon Night, Drew 0 INT’s)

In order to be eligible to achieve an official rating, a QB must have a minimum of 10 pass attempts in the game. In order to achieve a “perfect passer rating” a QB must have 0 (zero) INT’s and 2 or more TD’s.

Once the 4 component numbers are determined, you then put them into a  “special formula” (abit more complex than the recipe for gumbo), add a few multipliers and dividers (lets call these the crawfish, sausage and spices) and scha-zam a final rating is produced.

Now, what happens to Drew Brees’ passer rating from his masterful performance Monday night if you “remove the max limits” allowed for each component?  How high is his actual “passer rating” (above 158.3)? Where does his actual rating rank to the other 58 “perfect ratings”? AND what is it’s historical perspective???

The actual passer rating for Drew from Monday night is “207”, I repeat “207”. In the history of Pro football, the max rating to ever be achieved was 272 by Frank Ryan (Browns QB in 1964). Drew’s “passer rating” of 207 places him at #15 of 58 for all-time. Extraordinary. But wait, it gets better when you compare him to the more modern day pro-game.

Prior to 1994, 29 of 35 “perfect ratings” were from QB’s that had fewer than 20 or more pass attempts.  Most QB's in the early days just did not pass much (no more than 14 passes per game) with blitzing and situational substitution basically non-existent.  FYI, some of the 6 QB's from the early-days that had a “perfect rating” with more than 20 attempts are  Sammy Baugh (1949), Y.A. Tittle (1963) and Johnny U (1967) – quite a list!!

Also, since 1995, the NFL has played approx 7,500 games giving us about 15,000 QB "perfect ratings" opportunities. This is important as approx 86% of QB's (or @12,900) have attempted 20 or more passes per game. So of all the “perfect rated”  games with 20 or more pass attempts, Drew Brees’ Monday Night performance (QB rating of 207) was the  2nd highest rated game by a QB in the history of Pro Football – Big-Time WOW.

OFF THE CHARTS MAGNIFICENCE that has a VERY, VERY SPECIAL place in history!!!   And we got to go along for the ride.

Side Note: Who has the #1 rated QB performance of all-time (with 20 or more passes)? Well it was the other QB on the field Monday night, Tom Brady.  In 2007, (vs. Dolphins) his stat line was 21-25, 354 yds, 6 TD’s, 0 INT’s for a rating of 211.