If you’re familiar with my work at all, you know two things about me: I love to make “Top Gun” references, and the second is that I live and die with my fantasy studs. And I bring this up because there is a rumor floating out there that one of our producers for “NFL Fantasy Live” (and a former producer on the “Dave Dameshek Football Program“) sat Drew Brees this week.

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.

Time flies when you’re having fun, and the 2011 NFL regular season is already half over. With that in mind, we asked eight NFL.com and NFL Network analysts for their award winners at the halfway point and revised predictions for the postseason, and the results are in.

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.

The torrid pace that Saints QB Drew Brees set in the first three weeks of the season has slowed down just a bit — he had thrown three TD passes in each of his first three games. Still, what was even more impressive for the number of pass attempts is that he had tossed only two interceptions in that span. The last three games have seen a dramatic reversal. It’s understandable that Brees hasn’t kept up the pace with TD passes, but he’s actually thrown more picks than scoring passes.

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:

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.

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.

Top fantasy running backs are a commodity, but Jason Smith says they’re not one that you should gut your roster to get.

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.

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.

The 2011 NFL season started with a shootout for the ages in Green Bay that wasn’t settled until the final play, and continued Sunday with more thrilling action, including a record-setting performance from No. 1 overall pick Cam Newton and a spine-tingling comeback from the New York Jets on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Catch up with all the action from an unforgettable Week 1.

Pat Kirwan says that for the Colts to keep their nine-year playoff streak alive in 2011, they must manage the same trick pulled off by the Steelers last season, when Mike Tomlin‘s club started the year 3-1 without Ben Roethlisberger. That’s just part of NFL Media’s press coverage of the Manning story, as NFL Network’s Steve Cyphers will be reporting from Indianapolis throughout the day Wednesday.