Peyton Manning now has more passing touchdowns than any quarterback in NFL history, after his Denver Broncos crushed the San Francisco 49ers 42-17 on Sunday Night Football. The record-breaking 509th touchdown came with 3:09 remaining in the 2nd quarter, on an 8-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas.
Manning needed just 246 games to pass Brett Favre, the previous record-holder, who threw his 508 touchdowns in 302 games played. Amazingly, in just his 38th game as a Denver Bronco, Manning is now 2nd on the all-time team touchdown list, trailing only current General Manager John Elway.
You had to know this day would eventually come, as long as Manning’s surgically repaired neck held up. Starting with his rookie year in Indianapolis, he was throwing touchdowns at a rapid pace. While today’s game is a definite passing league, you can’t take anything away from this accomplishment, he’s thrown more touchdown passes than anyone.
A look at the career touchdown passing leaders shows that 3 of the top 5 are still playing. Manning added a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to finish his day at 510. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is 4th with 374 touchdown passes, and New England Patriot Tom Brady is 5th with 372. Other than Favre, the only retired player on the list, is Dan Marino, who held the record for over 2 decades, with 420 career touchdown passes.
The football game, like the record, was over pretty early. Manning’s record-breaker gave the Broncos an insurmountable 21-3 lead in the 2nd quarter. Denver didn’t just throw for a lot of yards, they also nearly doubled the rushing yards of the 49ers, 115 to 62.
The win also gave the Broncos sole possession of the lead in the AFC West, with the loss of the San Diego Chargers to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-20. Denver is now 5-1, while the Chargers are 5-2.
The 49ers dropped to 4-3, a game and a half behind the surprising Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West. The Cardinals are 5-1 after a 24-13 victory over the winless Oakland Raiders.
Talk about surprising, the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks are now in 3rd place in the NFC West at 3-3, after a 28-26 loss to the 2-4 St. Louis Rams. The Rams pulled off a trick punt return for a touchdown, and then put the game away on a fake punt, which resulted in a first down, and enabled them to run out the clock.
If Manning continues to throw touchdown passes at his current 2.9 per game, since he came to Denver, and he remains healthy, even at 38 years old, who knows how far out he can push his record. Favre even commented that Manning was now on to 600. That will be a record very hard to break, even in the current passer-friendly NFL.
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Sports With Frank Thomas
Frank thanks for the blog keep up the great work. Im living and working in denver .
Hey Wes, it’s good to hear from you. I hope everything is going well for you in Denver. I live near the school that you heard the coach say from the other side of a door, that we weren’t as good as people say, and you answered, “the hell we’re not” – Katella.
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