Peyton Manning Could Break All-Time Passing Yardage Record against Colts in Indianapolis

The greatest player in Indianapolis Colts franchise history will make a return to Indianapolis, to play in Lucas Oil Stadium (a.k.a. "the house that Peyton built") to take on his former Colts team as a member of the Denver Broncos.  It will be Peyton Manning's second game back in Indy and fourth game against the Colts total, but it's entirely possible that there could be an additional storyline for this game.

ESPN's Kevin Seifert made the astute observation that Peyton Manning could possibly break Brett Favre's all-time passing yardage record against the Colts in week nine.  Manning enters the 2015 season with 69,691 career passing yards, just 2,147 yards shy of Brett Favre's all-time record (Favre has 71,838 yards).  The Broncos' bye week occurs in week seven, meaning that Manning will have seven games before heading to Indy in week nine.  In his career, Manning has averaged 272.2 yards per game.  If he keeps up that career average, he would break the all-time passing yardage record against his former team in his former home in the stadium that is a testament to his greatness.

Think that's an accident?  Absolutely not.  Imagine the storylines for that game!  The greatest player in Colts franchise history goes for the all-time passing record in Indianapolis against his former team!  If that actually happens, the NFL might wish that they had scheduled the game for a primetime game at night, but as it is it's still a 4:25 kickoff from Indy on November 8 - meaning it'll still be a national game.

Of course, for Manning and the Broncos, they'll be focusing on just getting a win over the Colts, who have beaten them in two of their three meetings in the past two seasons.  The Colts won in Manning's first return to Indy in 2013, and then the Broncos evened the score in Denver in week one of the 2014 season.  Then in the divisional round of the playoffs last year, the Colts traveled to Denver and notched what is their signature win in the Andrew Luck era so far by defeating Manning and the Broncos to advance to the AFC Championship game.

So while the Broncos will be focusing on simply beating the Colts, there's a chance there could be a lot more for others to focus on, such as a potential record for one of the league's all-time greats in his former home against his former team.  That's nice scheduling on the part of the NFL, and it'd be interesting to see how Colts fans would welcome such a record being broken by number 18 in Lucas Oil Stadium.  My guess?  I think it'd be greeted by a standing ovation, just like when Manning was when he returned in 2013.