NEW ORLEANS — Are you ready for some football?

A Monday night party?

Well, get ready because a bunch of rowdy friends are going to be in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome this Monday night for a doozy.

The New Orleans Saints (3-1) are back home after sweeping a two-game road trip, and they’re facing the Washington Redkins (2-1) in a battle of first-place teams.

Mark Ingram II is back after a four-game suspension.

And, oh yeah, and Drew Brees is poised to break one of the most iconic records in the NFL.

“Prime time game. Good team. In New Orleans. Should be a good environment. Real good. Looking forward to it,” Ingram said.

It’s no fluke that this game wound up on Monday Night Football. The NFL and ESPN schedule-makers did a little math back in the spring and calculated that this would be the game in which Brees would most likely surpass Peyton Manning’s record for career passing yards (71,940).

But nothing was guaranteed then and nothing is guaranteed now.

“It’s not like there’s something in the gameplan, ‘Get Drew Brees the record,’” tackle Terron Armstead said. “We set out to win the game. If we got to run the ball for 200 yards and throw for 100 yards, that’s what we’ll do.”

But it looks like a pretty sure thing that Brees will get the 201 yards necessary to pass Manning. Brees is averaging 324 passing yards through four games and in 13 seasons with the Saints he has passed for fewer than 201 yards in just 15 games, two of which have come in the last four seasons.

“For me this isn’t a time for reflection,” Brees said. “For me, it’s focusing on the game, focusing on what to do to win the game, doing my job, being the best decision-maker that I can be putting us in the best position to win the game.”

Statistics say Michael Thomas, who leads the Saints and the NFL with 42 catches, is the guy most likely to catch the history-making pass, but Brees is known for distributing the ball with uncommon fairness.

“God willing,” Thomas said, “it would be a blessing to be the guy to make that play for such a tremendous quarterback.”

Depending on the circumstances of the record-breaking play, the game will be stopped briefly in order to acknowledge the accomplishment. 

The acknowledgement will include a brief congratulatory video from Manning, who was unable to accept the Saints’ invitation to attend.

“We’ll come up with the protocol because it is something so significant,” coach Sean Payton said. 

“The league does a good job of recognizing it and then moving on from that.”

Cornerback Marshon Lattimore called Brees “the GOAT (the greatest of all time.)”

“With him,” Lattimore said, “it’s like we can win any game.”

A perfect example of that came in a game between these same two teams last November.

Lattimore was in the Superdome locker room, having suffered a leg injury in the first quarter, as Washington opened a 15-point lead with less than six minutes remaining.

Brees drove the Saints 75 yards and threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Josh Hill. 

After a Washington punt, Brees drove the Saints 87 yards, threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Kamara, then handed to Kamara for a tying two-point conversion with 1:05 left.

In overtime, Brees drove the Saints 51 yards to Wil Lutz’s game-winning field goal.

“It’s just a reminder of what he can do,” Redskins coach Jay Gruden said. “No matter what your lead is against guys like him, Aaron Rodgers, and (Tom) Brady you’ve got to keep grinding, you have to keep working, keep scoring. It is very, very important to keep that mindset.” 

The return of Ingram, who was suspended for violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing drugs, would be the primary storyline this week if not for Brees’ impending record.

But Ingram, like Brees, is taking it in stride.

“I’ve been a part of a lot of Drew Brees’ records in some form or fashion,” Ingram said. 

“He’s breaking records every year. 

“He’s always accomplishing something, always some milestone that he’s setting. It won’t be the first time I’ve seen him break a record, and it won’t be the last time I see him break a record.

“It’s just another day in the life of being a teammate of Drew Brees.”