As former Purdue football coach Joe Tiller declared Tuesday, “It’s a good day in Boiler-land.”

In addition to Purdue’s still-fresh upset of No. 7 Ohio State last weekend, three of Tiller’s former Boilermakers quarterbacks are undefeated in the NFL.

Kyle Orton’s Denver Broncos are 6-0. Drew Brees’ New Orleans Saints are 5-0. (Curtis Painter’s Indianapolis Colts are 5-0, too, although at least a smidgen of the latter’s credit goes to Peyton Manning.)

Even Purdue’s current quarterback is rolling: fifth-year senior Joey Elliott leads three of the Big Ten’s key statistical categories. He threw a career-high 50 passes against OSU, completing 31 for 281 yards and two touchdowns while leading Purdue to its biggest win since Orton toppled No. 10 Iowa in 2003.

The quarterbacks frequently text each other, but Elliott noted the link.

“Obviously the system we have here is proven to work,” he said.

Of course, their success shouldn’t come as a surprise at a school that has produced many special quarterbacks. Among them: Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Mike Phipps, Mark Herrmann, Scott Campbell and Jim Everett.

Tiller calls Brees “a special talent,” and he saw in Denver’s Oct. 11 game against New England that Orton “is in a system that really takes advantage of his skills.”

Tiller also wasn’t surprised that Painter earned a roster spot with the Colts as the No. 3 quarterback.

“Kyle and Curtis each started three-and-a-half years for us, and Drew started three,” he said. "That’s 10 of our 12 years (at Purdue).

“No wonder we went to 10 bowls.”

Here’s a look at how Brees, Orton and Elliott have fared this season. (Painter has been inactive for each of the Colts’ regular-season games.)

Drew Brees

New Orleans Saints

Record: 5-0.

Next game: at Miami, 4:15 p.m. Sunday.

Key stat: NFL’s highest-rated quarterback (118.4). He also is second with 13 touchdown passes despite playing one fewer game than leader Matt Schaub, who has 14. This after Brees fell just 16 yards shy of breaking Dan Marino’s record for most yards in a single season in 2008.

Cool note: Brees distributes the football much like Manning: Six Saints have at least 100 receiving yards through five games.

Brees’ thoughts (to reporters in New Orleans): “I walked out of my house this morning and one of my neighbors was having something done to his house. A couple of the contractors kind of hollered something like, ‘Nice game.’ Everybody’s excited.”

Kyle Orton

Denver Broncos

Record: 6-0.

Next game: at Baltimore, 1 p.m. on Nov. 1.

Key stat: Has thrown only one interception this season and has better numbers across the board than the player he replaced, Hoosier native Jay Cutler.

Cool note: Broncos, unbeaten at this stage for the first time since 1998, have a 31/2-game AFC West lead over San Diego, which has won the past three division titles.

Orton’s thoughts (to reporters after Monday night’s victory over San Diego): “It’s as good as we can be right now, which is great to go into the bye week 6-0. Winning a couple of divisional games on the road is huge, but we understand we’ve got a long way to go. You have to win a lot of games past November to go where you want to go.”

Joey Elliott

Purdue Boilermakers

Record: 2-5 (1-2 Big Ten).

Next game: vs. Illinois, noon Saturday.

Key stat: Leads Big Ten in passing offense (265.1 yards), touchdowns thrown (14) and total offense (287.7).

Cool note: Purdue has converted 17-of-20 times in the red zone (14 touchdowns, three field goals).

Elliott’s thoughts: “We’ve had a lot of great players and leaders come through here. That’s the reason my name is at the bottom of the page in small fine print.”