The Record Setter

Sunday night simply belonged to Peyton Manning. His four touchdown performance put him atop the history books, surpassing Brett Favre for the most passing touchdowns in NFL history with 510.

He needed only two possessions in the first quarter to throw the two touchdowns he needed to tie Favre at 508 for the record, before adding two more to Demaryius Thomas to claim one of the most prestigious individual league records all to himself.

The performance also led the Broncos (5-1) to a 42-17 victory over the 49ers (4-3), putting them in first place in the AFC West heading into Week 7 of the 2014 regular season.

Thomas hauled in the record-setting grab with 3:09 to play in the second quarter, before catching a 40-yard bomb in the third, to move Manning to 510 touchdowns for his career. The two have now combined for 30 six-point scoring passes since Manning joined the Broncos in 2012. D. Thomas also has amassed 521 over the last three games, which is the most all-time by a Bronco in a three-game stretch.

Favre reached his record of 508 TD passes in 302 regular-season games, while Manning accomplished the same feat in 56 fewer contests,in just 246. Dan Marino is third on the all-time list with 420 touchdown passes. John Elway ranks seventh all-time with 300.

Favre also needed 10,169 passes to reach 508 touchdowns, Manning’s NFL-record 510 TD passes happened in just 8,669 passes.

His four-touchdown performance was the 33rd of his career, which is the most all-time in NFL history.

The toss to D. Thomas also gave Manning his 89th game with at least three touchdown passes, which is the most all-time in league history, as well.

D. Thomas would finish with eight catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns.

Manning has now thrown multiple TD passes in all six games to start the year, and is just the 14th player all-time in league history to do so.

Manning also now has 156 career games with multiple touchdown passes, second to only Brett Favre (159) in NFL history.

Continuing with the records, Manning has now also thrown a touchdown pass in 45 consecutive games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL. It’s also the fourth longest streak all-time. Drew Brees holds the record at 54 consecutive games.

Manning found Wes Welker for the record-tying touchdown grab with 2:57 remaining in the opening quarter, after connecting with Emmanuel Sanders to start the game on the Broncos first possession.

The touchdown catch for Sanders was his first as a Bronco.