Rivers passes through 11/01/2010 See All News San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is well ahead of the pace to become the third player in National Football League history to pass for 5,000 yards in a single season. In fact, no player has aired it out as much as Rivers has during the first eight games of a season. Including his 305-yard effort in Sunday's win over the Tennessee Titans, he has thrown for 2,649 yards in the first half of the season. Rivers, if he continues throwing the ball at this rate he'll join Hall of Famer Dan Marino and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks to reach 5,000 yards in a single season. Marino became the first player in history to reach the milestone when he threw for a record 5,084 yards in 1984. Brees reached the plateau in 2008 when he had 5,069 yards. Here's how Rivers compares to Marino and Brees. DAN MARINO, 1984 DREW BREES, 2008 PHILIP RIVERS, 2010 at Washington 311 TAMPA BAY 343 at Kansas City 298 NEW ENGLAND 234 at Washington 216 JACKSONVILLE 334 at Buffalo 296 at Denver 421 at Seattle 455 INDIANAPOLIS 257 SAN FRANCISCO 363 ARIZONA 241 at St. Louis 429 MINNESOTA 330 at Oakland 431 at Pittsburgh 226 OAKLAND 320 at St. Louis 249 HOUSTON 321 at Carolina 231 NEW ENGLAND 336 at New England 316 SAN DIEGO (London) 339 TENNESEE 305 2,390 2,563 2,649 Firsts to milestone passing marks 2,000 yards – Cecil Isbell, Green Bay Packers, 1942 3,000 yards – NFL: Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts, 1960 (3,099); AFL: Frank Tripucka, Denver Broncos, 1960 (3,038); Jack Kemp, Los Angeles Chargers, 1960 (3,018) 4,000 yards – Joe Namath, 1967 5,000 yards – Dan Marino, 1984 Back to news