Drew Brees leads the NFL this season with a dizzying 4,366 yards through the air, so it makes sense the Saints’ star QB was chosen to teach our nation’s youth how to measure distance.

And that’s exactly what Brees did as Elmo‘s special guest on “Sesame Street,” in an episode set to air Thursday on PBS.

“Mr. Drew” (as our furry, red friend calls Brees) hit the scene with a ruler and a newfound verve for numbers, measuring Elmo out at 24 inches. The segment, admittedly, grows unusual when Brees then measures Elmo with a potato and a bottle of toothpaste (but it still can’t beat the strangeness of Eric Mangini‘s Elmo run-in).

Brees filmed the segment during the offseason and scored massive points on the home front by bringing his young children to the taping.

“They are definitely a ‘Sesame’ family,” Carol-Lynn Parente, senior vice president and executive producer of the long-running show, told The Times-Picayune.

Toddlers nationwide now recognize Brees as a mathematical wizard. His opponents still are trying to keep up.

– Marc Sessler

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