Could Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Flacco Set an NFL TD Passing Record by the End of the Season?

CINCINNATI – New Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco ranks 22nd in NFL history with 259 touchdown passes.

But Flacco is tied for fifth in a unique touchdown passing category.

And he could feasibly climb into first by the end of the season.

Flacco’s 259 touchdowns have gone to 65 different plays, tying him with Matthew Stafford for the fifth-most distributed scoring strikes in league history.

The NFL leader in both categories is Drew Brees, whose 571 touchdowns were spread among 73 players.

Russell Wilson is second with 71 different touchdown targets, followed by Vinny Testaverde (70), Tom Brady (67), Matthew Stafford (65) and Flacco.

 Flacco didn’t throw his first career touchdown pass until his third start, hitting Daniel Wilcox for a 4-yard score against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 29, 2008.

That was 6,220 days ago.

Torrey Smith has caught more touchdown passes from Flacco than any other player with 30.

Derrick Mason is second on the list with 18, followed by Steve Smith (14), Anquan Boldin (14), Dennis Pitta (13) and Todd Heap (13).

No. 7 on the roll is Mike Wallace with eight.

Could Ja’Marr Chase pass Wallace by the end of this season?

Chase averaged one touchdown per game last year and isn’t too far off that number this year with three scores in five games.

And While Chase has a penchant for long touchdown receptions, it’s doubtful he’ll be able to say he caught the longest of Flacco’s career no matter how well the rest of the season goes.

Flacco’s longest is a 95-yarder to Wallace in 2016.

As for Bengals connections, there is a former Cincinnati player on Flacco’s list.

T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught three touchdown passes from Flacco in 2010.

Here is Flacco’s full TD roster:

Torrey Smith, 30

Derrick Mason, 18

Steve Smith, 14

Anquan Boldin, 14

Dennis Pitta, 13

Todd Heap, 13

Mike Wallace, 8

Kamar Aiken, 7

Marlon Brown, 7

Crockett Gillmore, 6

Breshad Perriman, 6

Ray Rice, 6

Ed Dickson, 6

Mark Clayton, 5

Owen Daniels, 4

Alec Pierce, 4

David Njoku, 4

Javorius Allen, 4

John Brown, 4

Jacoby Jones, 3

Courtland Sutton, 3

Jamison Crowder, 3

Chris Moore, 3

Willis McGahee, 3

Kyle Juszczyk, 3

Amari Cooper, 3

Jerome Ford, 3

Elijah Moore, 3

Michael Pittman Jr., 3

Dallas Clark, 3

T.J. Houshmandzadeh, 3

Jeremy Maclin, 3

Garrett Wilson, 2

Kelley Washington, 2

Darren Waller, 2

Benjamin Watson, 2

Michael Campanaro, 2

Demetrius Williams, 2

Cedric Tillman, 2

Maxx Williams, 2

Michael Crabtree, 2

Patrick Ricard, 2

Mark Andrews, 2

Emmanuel Sanders, 2

Daniel Wilcox, 2

Josh Downs, 2

Yamon Figurs, 1

Chris Herndon, 1

Terrance West, 1

Tandon Doss, 1