Peyton Manning, Broncos shatter single-season records in regular-season finale

Peyton Manning has been in a ridiculous zone this season. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) Remember when there were all those questions about whether Peyton Manning

Doug Farrar | Dec 29, 2013

Peyton Manning, Broncos shatter single-season records in regular-season finale /

Peyton Manning has been in a ridiculous zone this season. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Remember when there were all those questions about whether Peyton Manning would ever play again? Remember when there were all those questions about whether Peyton Manning had sufficient arm strength to excel in the NFL as he had before?

Yeah, we're pretty much over that. As Manning's Denver Broncos commenced beating the living heck out of the Oakland Raiders to wrap up the AFC's No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, Manning and his offense put up a couple of impressive NFL single-season records.

MORE COVERAGE: Week 17 Snaps | Previewing wild-card weekend | Top-10 Mock Draft

The 2007 New England Patriots' record of 589 points in a season has been thrashed -- Denver came into the Raiders game with 572, and they were up 31-0 at the half, putting them at 603. In addition, Manning came into the Raiders game with 5,211 passing yards this season, third all-time behind Drew Brees' 5,476 in 2011 and Tom Brady's 5,235 that same year. Manning missed the entire 2011 season as he underwent and recovered from multiple shoulder and neck surgeries, and he appeared to be making a point with 266 passing yards in the first half. That left him with a record 5,477, as backup Brock Osweiler took over for Manning in the second half.

Now, if you believe that Manning broke Brady's record of 50 touchdown passes in a season against the Houston Texans last week, he's already got that one sewn up. However, as the NFL reportedly told Houston interim head coach Wade Phillips that one of Manning's touchdowns in that game should not have counted, Manning may have been looking to eradicate all doubt with a dynamic follow-up performance.

Published Dec 29, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.