Manning Breaks Career Passing Touchdown Record in Win over 49ers
Peyton Manning threw his 509th touchdown pass Sunday night, breaking the record for most career passing touchdowns.
If there was any question to Peyton Manning’s claim to being one of the NFL’s all-time greatest quarterbacks, breaking the career passing touchdowns record will seal the deal. That was the item Manning added onto his career resume when he threw his 509th touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas, breaking the record previously held by Brett Favre on Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers. With a final score of 42-17, all in all it was a pretty good day. The day started when Manning got his 507th from a short, 10-yard ball to a wide open Emmanuel Sanders early in the first quarter. The tying touchdown came with three minutes left in the 1st quarter from a well-placed throw to Wes Welker from the 49ers’ own 40-yard line. And then there was one. With three minutes left in the first half, third and goal, Manning snapped the ball from the 49ers ten, found an opening and connected with Demaryius Thomas to make history. Manning’s team did not let him have it easy though. A game of keep away made Manning have to earn his 509th touchdown ball, a game he jokingly said was more than unfair. “Those guys are all great athletes and my vertical leap isn’t what it used to be. I haven’t played keep-away since I was 8 years old,” Manning said. “That is something I will always remember.” Later fellow Broncos teammates would reveal Manning had practiced the antics in a previous practice. Manning just did not think they would go through with it. Once he did get the ball, Manning received a steady stream of congratulations from football big wigs like GM John Elway, Dan Marino, Y.A. Tittle, Sonny Jurgensen, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. Manning even got a word from the former reigning champ. “I want to say congratulations for breaking the touchdown record,” Favre said. “I’m not surprised. You’ve been a wonderful player and I’ve enjoyed watching you play. I’ve enjoyed competing against you. I wish you great success for the rest of the season and the rest of your career.” Words of congratulations flowed in from Twitter as well. 
Once the excitement was over it was back to business. In the third quarter, Manning connected with Thomas again for a 40-yard TD after Aqib Talib’s interception, pushing the score to 28-10. Manning’s touchdowns end there, but Denver managed to score twice more before the night was over. On the whole, Manning completed 22 of 26 passed for 318 yards with zero interceptions and four touchdown throws before sitting out of the fourth quarter. The Broncos managed to get another best in the form of running back Ronnie Hillman, who broke through the line and ran a career-best 37-yard run to make it 35-10. Hillman chalked up another when he pounded in a one yarder to close out the game at 42-17.
