BY Jay Strubberg
Normally, an eight-yard touchdown pass thrown by Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning could be marked off as business as usual. But in Sunday night’s game, the quick toss landed him a career milestone.
In the second quarter of the Broncos’ 42-17 rout of the San Francisco 49ers, the 17-year veteran connected with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas in the endzone to break NFL great Brett Favre’s record with his 509th career touchdown pass — the most for any quarterback ever.
Favre was quick to acknowledge the achievement, sending this mid-game tweet: “Well deserved Peyton. Congratulations on breaking my record.” Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders chimed in too.
EMMANUEL SANDERS ON ESPN: “He might have not talked about throughout the week or the beginning of the season, but I know Peyton and Peyton loves to play this game and he loves to break records. He loves to put up points.”
Following the game, Manning said he was “honored just to play the position” of quarterback and the whole experience was “very humbling.”
The touchdown record is even more incredible considering Manning had to bounce back from spinal-fusion surgery that forced him to sit out the entire 2011 season — when many thought the rest of his career might be in jeopardy.
Since that time, Manning has suited up for all 38 regular-season Broncos games. As an ESPN writer put it, Manning’s gone from a “quarterback simply hoping to compete at the level he had always known in his pre-spinal fusion football life, to a quarterback who may have found another plane beyond it.”
TONY DUNGY VIA NBC: “One hundred eleven touchdown passes since the surgery. That’s just unbelievable. … Unless he decides he just wants to take a break and go with the kids, he’s gonna throw 600.”
Now that Manning has nabbed the record for most career touchdowns and he broke the record for most touchdowns thrown in a season last year, he’ll have his sights set on yet another landmark achievement: consecutive games with a touchdown.
FOX SPORTS: “If Peyton throws a touchdown in every game for the rest of the season, he will break Drew Brees’s all-time mark in week 17 against the Raiders.”
Manning’s final stat line for Sunday’s victory against the 49ers showed 318 yards passing with four touchdown passes, moving his now-record career total to 510.
