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 one current Cincinnati player and one former one on Flacco’s list.
Tight end Noah Fant caught a 25-yard TD pass from Flacco as a rookie in 2019.
Former Bengals wide receiver 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
Marlon Brown, 7
Kamar Aiken, 7
Breshad Perriman, 6
Ray Rice, 6
Crockett Gillmore, 6
Ed Dickson, 6
Mark Clayton, 5
Alec Pierce, 4
Javorius Allen, 4
David Njoku, 4
Owen Daniels, 4
John Brown, 4
Jamison Crowder, 3
Dallas Clark, 3
Courtland Sutton, 3
Jeremy Maclin, 3
Michael Pittman Jr., 3
Elijah Moore, 3
Jerome Ford, 3
Willis McGahee, 3
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, 3
Jacoby Jones, 3
Amari Cooper, 3
Chris Moore, 3
Kyle Juszczyk, 3
Garrett Wilson, 2
Kelley Washington, 2
Darren Waller, 2
Patrick Ricard, 2
Cedric Tillman, 2
Benjamin Watson, 2
Maxx Williams, 2
Demetrius Williams, 2
Emmanuel Sanders, 2
Michael Crabtree, 2
Josh Downs, 2
Michael Campanaro, 2
Daniel Wilcox, 2
Mark Andrews, 2
Mo Alie-Cox, 1
Chris Givens, 1
Le’Ron McClain, 1
Yamon Figurs, 1
David Bell, 1
Alex Collins, 1
Noah Fant, 1
Terrance West, 1
Breece Hall, 1
Chris Herndon, 1
Corey Davis, 1
Willie Snead IV, 1
Drew Ogletree, 1
Harrison Bryant, 1
Vonta Leach, 1
Tandon Doss, 1
Kenneth Dixon, 1
Tyler Goodson, 1
Tyler Conklin, 1
