Peyton Manning breaks NFL record for touchdown passes

Veteran quarterback Peyton Manning has thrown his 509th career touchdown to pass Brett Favre on the NFL's all-time list for career touchdown passes.

The record-breaking play was an 8-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas in the second quarter of Denver Broncos' clash with San Francisco 49ers.

Manning immediately went to go get the historic ball from Thomas but his cheeky teammates had other ideas.

Thomas tossed it to Wes Welker, with Manning in the middle, then the ball went to Emmanuel Sanders and eventually over to Julius Thomas, just like they were back on the school playground with Manning trying to get it from them.

Manning eventually got the ball, and a big hug from coach John Fox when he got to the sideline.

Manning hadn't said much about his march toward the NFL's all-time record for passing touchdowns, preferring in his normal news conference earlier this week to focus on the San Francisco 49ers and a big game for his Broncos.

He rarely speaks in terms of himself and his numbers anyway, deflecting it to the next game he and his team has to prepare for.

But Manning's touchdown to Thomas was a special moment in a game that generally doesn't stop for any ceremony.

The game didn't really stop (except for the Broncos' keep-away game), as the extra point was kicked as the public-address announcer alerted fans to the record, like nobody at Sports Authority Field knew.

During the commercial break, a short video was played with kind words from Manning's teammates, and a congratulations from Favre.

"I'm not surprised," Favre said as part of his pre-taped congratulations. "I wish you great success for the rest of the season, and the rest of your career."

Manning was playing his 246th game on Sunday night. Favre set the record in 302 games, or three-and-a-half more seasons than Manning took to get 509. Manning has lapped the field.

How many touchdowns can Manning compile before he's done? As he showed against the 49ers – he hit Emmanuel Sanders for touchdown No. 507 and Wes Welker for No. 508 a little more than 12 minutes into the first quarter – he's showing no signs of slowing down. Is 600 possible? Maybe, considering he had a NFL record 55 last season and 15 through Denver's first five games this season.

That's for another day. Sunday night was about No. 509 and celebrating Manning, the all-time touchdown king and one of the greatest players in NFL history, even if the Broncos wanted to have a little juvenile fun with the 38-year-old man after he made history.