Who throws more touchdown passes this season, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning?
When Peyton Manning threw 49 touchdown passes in 2004, he broke Dan Marino’s single-season record that had stood for 20 years. Three years later, Tom Brady topped Manning with 50 TD passes. But records are secondary to the big mission. Manning’s record-breaking season, remember, ended with a loss to the Patriots in the divisional playoffs. Brady’s feat was a footnote to the would-be perfect season that went up in flames with his first Super Bowl loss. Championships, not records, are the ultimate measures of success for the NFL’s best quarterbacks. As Brady has built a 3-1 edge over Manning in Super Bowl victories, either the Patriots or Colts have represented the AFC in five of the past seven Super Bowls. They are among the favorites to win Super Bowl XLIII — after another much-anticipated midseason showdown at Indianapolis on Nov. 2. Still, there’s intrigue when considering that neither of the star quarterbacks played a single preseason down while nursing injuries. Manning had surgery
