Monday Night Football belongs to Peyton Manning.
The Denver Broncos star always shined under the bright lights of the national spotlight, and in Monday’s contest against the Oakland Raiders he showed why.
Just two weeks after a record-breaking night in the Thursday Night Football season-opener, Manning got off to another torrid start and set set an NFL record in the process — the most touchdown passes in the first three games of a season.
Manning tied the record of 11 touchdown passes when he hit Wes Welker for a 12-yard score. Manning had already connected with Eric Decker on a two-yard toss to take a 7-0 lead on the Raiders. Manning went 5-of-6 on that drive, accounting for 55 of the drive’s 60 yards.
Peyton Manning notched the record on a touchdown pass to Julius Thomas late in the second quarter. With the score he beat the three-game record set by Tom Brady, and Manning now has Brady’s single-season record of 50 touchdown passes in his sights.
Going into Monday Night Football, Petyon Manning was 57-of-85 for 769 yards and nine touchdown passes. He still has no interceptions.
Manning got off to a record-setting start to the season . In the team’s season-opener against the Baltimore Ravens he threw for 7 touchdown passes , just the sixth player in the league to do it and the first since Joe Kapp did it in 1969. The others to throw for 7 touchdown in a game are Sid Luckman, Adrian Burk, George Blanda, and Y.A. Tittle.
By halftime of the Monday Night Football contest against the Raiders, Peyton Manning had already surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the season.