Peyton Manning becomes second player to reach 70,000 career yards

On a night when most NFL fans were talking about Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, and not really in a reverent way, he reached one of the biggest milestones of his great career.

Manning got to 70,000 yards on Thursday night at the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning got the mark during the third quarter, on a third-down pass to Emmanuel Sanders. He didn’t stop to appreciate the moment; he rushed the Broncos to the line to hurry the next snap against the Chiefs. The NFL doesn’t generally stop to smell the roses during a game.

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The only other member of that club is Brett Favre, with 71.838 yards. To put 70,000 into perspective, Dan Marino is third with 61,361. Drew Brees is fourth at 56,388. Brees has almost 14,000 yards to go before he gets to that milestone. Someone would need 20 3,500-yard seasons to get to 70,000. Even in an era of offensive explosion, 70,000 yards is a remarkable number.

But on a night in which Manning reached such an impressive milestone, he struggled in the first half, a continuation of his struggles from Week 1. Manning didn’t complete any deep passes against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, and his consecutive passes without a touchdown streak got past 100 before he finally hit Sanders for a score in the second quarter. It was the first time Manning had thrown more than 100 passes between touchdowns. It was apparent that Manning’s arm strength, at 39 years old, is nowhere near what it used to be while he was racking up most of those 70,000 yards. He had an interception returned for a touchdown for the second straight week to start this season.

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No matter what happens to Manning the rest of this season, or any others he wants to play after 2015, it doesn’t take away from the fact he’s had a historic and unprecedented second chapter of his career. And reaching Thursday night’s milestone was another reminder that he is one of the game’s true legends.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab