Peyton Manning has become only the second quarterback in the NFL to notch 500 touchdown passes, as he helped the Denver Broncos to a comfortable 41-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at the Sports Authority Field this evening.
The Cardinals were the first side to register points as Chandler Catanzaro converted from 33 yards out to give Arizona a three-point lead in the early stages.
The Broncos moved into the lead with their first scoring move, as Manning picked out Julius Thomas with a seven-yarder, allowing Brandon McManus to kick the score to 7-3.
Arizona responded by moving within a point of the opposition when Catanzaro kicked his second field goal in the first quarter with a move from 48 yards out from the posts.
The Broncos thought they'd moved back ahead in the second quarter, with Manning on hand again to deliver a standout 77-yard pass into the path of Emmanuel Sanders, who latched on only to see the touchdown chalked off as he moved out of bounds.
The decision wasn't to weigh too heavily though, as the Broncos notched the next points when Demaryius Thomas caught hold of a 31-yard Manning pass to push things to 14-6.
Going into the final five minutes of the first half, the Cardinals showed that they weren't in the mood to give things up easily when Andre Ellington completed a five-yard rush.
Denver came back just before the interval, however, as Thomas and Manning paired up again to complete a touchdown from a monstrous 86 yards, leaving the scores at 21-13 going into the break.
Denver used the start of the third to go further ahead with McManus converting a field goal from 44 yards out, before the Cardinals moved back within touching distance as Ellington combined with Logan Thomas to complete a world-class touchdown covering 81 yards.
The encounter was engineered towards a tense finish, with the Broncos grabbing an early field goal in the fourth through McManus to leave the scores at 27-20 in Denver's favour with just under 14 minutes to play.
It was Manning's side who triumphed in the end though, as they played the most proactive football to close out the tie, with the quarterback feeding Thomas with a 12-yarder to make it 34-20, while Juwan Thompson completed a seven-yard rush later in the quarter to leave the final score at 41-20.
Christopher Dodd
