NFL record breakers
- 12-25-2004
- By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions
One record is trumpeted nightly on ESPN’s SportsCenter. Peyton Manning’s pursuit of Dan Marino’s long-standing NFL record for most touchdown passes in a year landed the Indianapolis Colts quarterback on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the Dec. 20 issue.
Manning, with 47 touchdown passes in 14 games, needs just one scoring pass to tie and two to break Marino’s 20-year-old record when the Chargers (11-3, AFC West champions) and Colts (11-3, AFC South champions) play Sunday at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
But there’s another decades-old touchdown pass record held by an NFL icon that could fall in Indianapolis. Chargers tight end Antonio Gates has 12 touchdown catches, which ties him for the most touchdown receptions in a season by a tight end. Mike Ditka first set the record 43 years ago, although since then it’s been tied but never broken.
“That’s a record that’s been around longer than the one Peyton is trying to break,” said Justin Peelle, the Chargers’ third-year backup tight end. “Both players have had great years, and it’s great for football. There’s a good chance that both will be broken, but if you walk around our locker room, you won’t hear guys talking about it.”
Not even Gates, the undrafted second-year player who is passing NFL Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow in the Chargers record book, is holding court over his chance to break a record. The Chargers are more concerned with beating the Colts to gain the No. 3 seed in the playoffs that could result in home-field advantage should they face the Colts in the playoffs.
“I’ll celebrate (Gates’) record, but he doesn’t say anything about it,” Peelle said. “His big deal is to get to the playoffs. He’s happy he made the Pro Bowl, because that was one of his goals, but his demeanor is he’s not going to tell you about the record.”
Gates is pulling in receptions like a wide receiver with 74 for 915 yards (12.4 per catch). The 6-4, 260-pound Gates, an honorable mention All-American basketball player at Kent State before the Chargers signed him as a free agent in 2003, is tied for eighth in catches in the AFC. He is second among tight ends behind Kansas City’s Tony Gonzalez (77), the perennial Pro Bowler.
“Peyton is getting the pub because he’s a guy who is the leading MVP candidate, so Gates’ record is a little lost in the shuffle,” said Keenan McCardell, the Chargers’ veteran wide receiver. “Manning has a chance to win back-to-back MVPs (he was the co-MVP with Steve McNair last year) and is about to break the record of Marino, one of the gods of quarterbacks.
“But Gatesy knows what is at stake. I think he likes that he’s sliding under the radar, if you want to call it that. When it happens, it happens. What I like about him is nothing shakes him. He’s the same tempo guy the whole time. He knows he can reminisce about all this after the season.”
Gates isn’t as likely to break a record as is Manning, who tossed six against Detroit on Thanksgiving Day and averages 3.4 touchdown passes a game. For the season Manning has completed 308-of-451 (.683) for 4,168 yards with 47 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He’s been sacked only nine times in those 451 attempts.
The Chargers’ defensive backs have been subjected to a daily dose of questions about Manning’s record chase.
“We know he has an opportunity to break the record in front of his home crowd,” said strong safety Terrence Kiel. “But we feel we’re playing in the same situation we’ve been all year. We want to come out and play hard. We have a lot of stake.”
Kiel believes the Chargers’ secondary has played the pass better than the Bolts’ ranking of 26th in the league, allowing 237.1 yards a game, suggests. In this era of rules that favor the passing game, the Chargers have allowed only 16 touchdown passes, even though opponents are forced to throw because of the Bolts’ rush defense, ranked No. 2 in the league (80.9), and the fact that teams have trailed the Bolts.
“It’s kind of hard to stop a guy like Manning,” Kiel said. “We’ve got to go out there and work hard. We want to limit their big plays and not let him threw for 300, 400 yards. Our objective is to win.”
NFL rules, limiting physical contact against receiving, have opened up the passing game more than at anytime in the history of the league. But cornerback Drayton Florence says that increases the challenge, rather than the frustration, for a cornerback, even on a day Manning is poised to re-write NFL history.
“I approach it as I have to go out and beat my man every play, no matter what the rules are now,” said Florence, who has three interceptions. “Obviously, it’s an offensive game with the way the rules cater to the receivers, but you’re a competitor, you like that. I always want to have the odds against me. That makes you feel even better when you beat your man.”
Or win a game that could decide home-field advantage in the playoffs on a day a couple of old NFL records could fall.
