In any event, NFL players made a big splash during the ESPY awards and here’s a look at the NFL winners.

We are seven days away from the Super Bowl, and this one’s for John! John Elway, that is.

We are now 13 days from the Super Bowl. Or in other words, the 13 longest days of the year!

We’re halfway through the season and the usual suspects are still on pace to shatter Dan Marino‘s single-season passing record. Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers all are in position to break the mark of 5,084 yards.

Last week, we mentioned that Tom Brady would have to have an absolutely abysmal game in Pittsburgh to drop off the pace to break Dan Marino‘s record for most passing yards in a season. Well, he’s still on pace to shatter that mark of 5,084, but Brady’s bad day actually pushed him down to third on the list of candidates to set the new mark.

There’s no change in our weekly update of the quarterbacks on pace to break Dan Marino‘s single-season passing yardage record. But here’s a little extra food for thought: If Patriots QB Tom Brady is held to 62 yards passing this week at Pittsburgh, he will still be on pace to break Marino’s mark of 5,084 yards.

Since neither starting QB in the Monday night game has any chance of being mistaken for Dan Fouts, we’ll go ahead and update our weekly look at who’s on pace to break Dan Marino‘s single-season passing record right now. As we’ve noted, Marino set the mark of 5,084 yards back in 1984. As many as six passers were on pace to top that number just a couple of weeks ago. As defenses around the league have figured things out, that total is down to three:

With a win against Dallas on Sunday, New England’s Tom Brady and Bill Belichick can tie Pro Football Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Don Shula of Miami for the most wins (116) by a quarterback-head coach duo in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).

Even Dan Marino admits that it’s only a matter of time before someone breaks his 27-year-old single-season passing record of 5,084 yards. And as we take our weekly look at the numbers, it shows that five QBs are still on pace to set a new record.

Tune into NFL Network at 12:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday to hear coverage of the NFL Fall Meeting in Houston, where the league will announce who will host Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015.

Okay, so Tom Brady is no longer on pace to throw for 7,000 yards this season — but he’s still on pace to obliterate Dan Marino‘s single-season yardage mark. And for the record, we will continue to make this a weekly feature in Data Points as long as there are still a few NFL quarterbacks threatening Marino’s mark of 5,084 yards.

On Tuesday, we told you that five quarterbacks are still on pace to break Dan Marino‘s single-season passing yardage record. As it turns out, 2011 is shaping up to be a banner year for passing efficiency as well.

Last week, we told you that five quarterbacks, after two weeks, were on pace to shatter Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards record. Well, now that three games are in the books, there still are five passers on pace to beat that mark.

Every year, it seems, there’s a quarterback who makes a run at Dan Marino’s record for most passing yards in a single season. After two Sunday’s of the 2011 campaign, it appears there might be a few guys capable of threatening the mark.

Buried slightly among all the passing feats of Week 1 is the fact that Saints QB Drew Brees has now thrown at least one TD pass in 28 consecutive games. That puts him two games shy of the third-longest such streak in NFL history, the spot currently held by Hall of Famer Dan Marino. If Brees keeps his streak alive haflway through the season, he’ll reach Brett Favre‘s 36-game streak, which is second-best.