On Sunday, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns against a Steelers defense that had given up just 11 TD passes in its first 12 games. The Steelers were allowing just 172 passing yards per game before they were torched by Brady in a 34-13 loss to New England.

Sunday marked the fifth time that Brady has thrown for four or more touchdowns in a game this season. He now has 45 TD passes, and he’s just four shy of tying Peyton Manning’s single-season NFL record, set in 2004.

What makes Brady’s career year even more remarkable is that he’s thrown just five interceptions. The most TD passes thrown over a full season while holding opponents to single digits in picks is 31. For the Eagles in 2004, Donovan McNabb recorded 31 TD passes and just eight interceptions. In 2006, Manning matched that TD total and allowed nine picks.

Not only is Brady likely to set a new NFL standard for TD passes in a season, he’s on course to smash the single-season mark for TD-interception ratio among quarterbacks with at least 300 passing attempts.

Highest Single-Season TD-Int Ratio, All-Time
(minimum 300 passing attempts)

QB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Year. . . . . . .TD. . . .Int. . .TD/Int
Tom Brady, NE. . . . . . . . . .2007. . . . . . . 45. . . . 5. . . .9.00
Steve DeBerg, KC. . . . . . . .1990. . . . . . . 23. . . . 4. . . .5.75
Peyton Manning, Ind. . . . . 2004. . . . . . . 49. . . .10. . . .4.90
Brian Griese, Den. . . . . . . .2000. . . . . . . 19. . . . 4. . . .4.75
Steve Bartkowski, Atl. . . . . 1983. . . . . . . 22. . . . 5. . . .4.20
Vinny Testaverde, NYJ. . . . 1998. . . . . . . 29. . . . 7. . . .4.14

Brady’s passer rating this season is a league-high 123.5, and that would surpass Manning’s 121.1 in 2004 for the highest all-time. The numbers suggest Brady is closing in on the best passing season ever by an NFL quarterback.