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Manning, Thomas light up Cardinals

Oct 6, 2014 - 2:36 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Peyton Manning said Wednesday that getting to the 500-touchdown mark was just "the other thing."

He got the best of both worlds on Sunday.

Manning threw his 500th touchdown pass in the first quarter and finished with four TD tosses in the Denver Broncos' 41-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

Manning hooked up with tight end Julius Thomas for a 7-yard score on 3rd-and- goal at the 4:43 mark of the opening frame to get to the 500 milestone. He gave a mini fist pump following the touchdown.

Manning finished 31-of-47 for 479 yards with two interceptions, while Demaryius Thomas had eight receptions for a career-high 226 yards and two touchdowns for Denver (3-1), which outscored Arizona 17-0 in the fourth to pull away.

The five-time MVP Manning joined Brett Favre as the only other quarterback in league history to eclipse 500 touchdown passes. Favre holds the all-time record with 508 TD tosses. Manning is five touchdowns away from tying him.

Manning reached the milestone in his 244th career game, while it took Favre 293 contests to reach 500. Marvin Harrison has caught the most TD passes from Manning with 112, followed by Reggie Wayne with 67.

The 38-year-old fired 399 of those TD passes in Indianapolis and currently has 104 with the Broncos.

"Obviously it was a festive locker room right there because we won a big ball game against a good football team," Manning said. "Anything that comes along the way, I really accept it on behalf of a number of players."

Emmanuel Sanders caught seven passes for 101 yards and Julius Thomas hauled in six receptions for 66 yards and two scores in the triumph.

Denver outgained Arizona 568-215.

Andre Ellington had an 81-yard TD catch among his 112 receiving yards and carried the ball 16 times for 32 yards and a score for the Cardinals (3-1).

Drew Stanton was 11-of-26 for 118 yards before departing with a concussion. Logan Thomas came on and went 1-of-8, with his only completion going to Ellington for his first career touchdown.

The Cardinals also lost defensive end Calais Campbell to a sprained medial collateral ligament. Julius Thomas threw a block in the third quarter that injured Campbell.

"I've been coaching for 37 years, it's the dirtiest play I've seen," said Cardinals coach Bruce Arians. "It was a flat chop block and put him out of the game. I know John Fox, great coach and great guy. Somebody has got to answer to that. A fine isn't going to do it, when he's going to miss three or four weeks, on a blatant chop block."

Logan Thomas squeezed his pass past linebacker Nate Irving along the right sideline to Ellington and Aqib Talib was unable to make the tackle as Ellington scampered in for the score to cut Arizona's deficit to 24-20 late in the third.

Brandon McManus kicked a 41-yard field goal early in the fourth and Denver's defense forced a quick three-and-out on Arizona's ensuing possession.

Manning flipped a wide receiver screen to Demaryius Thomas for a gain of 28 yards on 3rd-and-4 and then found Wes Welker for a 20-yard pickup to put the ball at the Arizona 12.

Manning hit Julius Thomas two plays later for a 12-yard score to give the Broncos a 34-20 advantage.

Juwan Thompson added an 8-yard TD run on Denver's next touch to make it 41-20 with 4:33 left.

Chandler Catanzaro's 33-yard field goal capped Arizona's opening 12-play, 65- yard drive before Denver responded on its initial march with Julius Thomas' 7- yard TD catch. Catanzaro split the uprights from 48 yards out to cut the deficit to 7-6 late in the first.

Demaryius Thomas hauled in a quick slant and went 31 yards for a touchdown to extend Denver's cushion to 14-6 midway through the second.

Campbell slipped in front of Montee Ball on a screen pass and intercepted Manning on the Broncos' next series. Ellington darted off right tackle for a 5-yard TD run a snap later to trim the margin to 14-13.

Manning lofted a pass along the left sideline and hit Demaryius Thomas in stride for an 86-yard touchdown at the 1:37 mark to stake Denver to a 21-13 lead.

McManus hit a 44-yard field goal at the 9:33 mark of the third to make it 24-13.

Game Notes

Denver picked up 24 first downs compared to nine for Arizona ... The Broncos were 7-of-16 on third down, while the Cardinals finished 3-of-16 ... Logan Thomas joined Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo as the only other rookies to throw a touchdown pass this season.