(Al Messerschmidt / NFL)

Baseball had its historical home-run chases, and now football is launching its own aerial assault at history.

Two quarterbacks, New Orleans Drew Brees and Arizona’s Kurt Warner, each are on pace to shatter the nearly quarter-century-old single-season passing mark that former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino set in 1984 with 5,084 passing yards.

Brees is on pace this season to throw for 5,199 yards. He has eight 300-yard passing games this season, the most 300-yard passing games since former NFL MVP Rich Gannon had 10 during the Raiders’ Super Bowl season in 2002.

Warner is on pace this season to throw for 5,100 yards. He is averaging 318.7 passing yards per game — just over 6 yards per game fewer than Brees — and Warner has reverted to the form he had from 1999-2001, when he had nine 300-plus-yard passing games in the ’99 and 2001 seasons.

But however the numbers are broken down, this much is undeniable.

Brees and Warner are throwing for a piece of NFL history.

• For more on passing records, click here
• Photos: Career passing leaders

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