Brady Within Striking Distance Of Manning’s ‘Unbreakable’ Record

Records are meant to be broken. Isn’t that how the saying goes? When Peyton Manning retired in 2016, he was asked about his records. At the time, he felt most of his records would be broken, except one – the most touchdowns by a quarterback-receiver duo. Manning and Marvin Harrison teamed up for 114 touchdowns during their 11-year together as Indianapolis Colts.

Now Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are within striking distance. As teammates on both the New England Patriots and now the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they have 104 touchdowns going into Week 14 of the NFL season.

The Manning-Brady rivalry may be up there for greatest rivalries of all time, with the two facing off 17 times. Brady won 11 of those games compared to Manning’s six wins. Brady may deal Manning another “L” with this record as he and Gronkowski could reasonably score 11 more touchdowns this season with five games and the playoffs remaining – especially if they keep up their current pace. Gronkowski has scored six touchdowns in seven games.

While the all-time record seems feasible, it may not be so easy to break Manning and Harrison’s regular season record. Brady and Gronkowski would need 22 touchdowns to do that. It all depends on how long each of them decides to continue playing. Brady, 44, is showing no signs of slowing down, and Gronkowski’s brother has publicly said that he believes Gronkowski will continue playing as long as Brady does. Brady’s contract runs through the 2022 season, which he has made clear he intends on playing out. Even if he wins another Super Bowl this year, he will most likely try to get into the record books again, this time doing what no other NFL player has ever done, and go for a three-peat.