Kirk Cousins joins elite club after breaking Falcons passing yards record

When the Atlanta Falcons handed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins a huge $180 million contract back in March, they were banking on his experience to bring immediate results.

In the Thursday Night Football clash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cousins delivered. The Falcons managed a dramatic 36-30 overtime win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, taking their 2024 record to 3-2.

The 36-year-old threw a franchise-record 509 passing yards, the first 500-yard game in his long professional career. He beat the previous Falcons record (503 yards) held by Matt Ryan and joins a select club of QBs with 500-yard games.

“It’s amazing what you can do when you’re out there on the field and you’re getting more chances,” Cousins said after the game.

What is the NFL record for passing yards in a game?

On Thursday evening Kirk Cousins became the 22nd different quarterback to throw at least 500 yards in an NFL game.

The first was Norm Van Brocklin back in 1951 for the Los Angles Rams, and his incredible 554-yard performance remains the single-game NFL record. Van Brocklin is one of only three quarterbacks to have hit the 500-yard mark on more than one occasion, doing so three times over the course of his stellar career.

The other two are Drew Brees and Tom Brady, who each managed that feat twice. Brady is the only player to have thrown 500 yards in both a regular season and a postseason game. Incredibly, his 500-yard playoff game came in Super Bowl LII, when his New England Patriots were beaten by the Philadelphia Eagles despite Brady’s 505 throwing yards.

No quarterback has even managed 600 throwing yards in a single game, but Tom Brady did reach that milestone over the course of four consecutive quarters played across two games. Will anyone ever get the big 6-0-0? Maybe. These mammoth totals are becoming increasingly common, with 17 of the 27 500-yard performances coming since 2010.