National Football League

Here's why Sunday was the greatest day in NFL history

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:03 p.m. ET

foxsports

If you need three TDs to set an NFL record for scoring, you usually can't go wrong with turning to Drew Brees. On Sunday night, he got the job done by halftime.

The NFL set a single-day record for touchdowns when the New Orleans Saints scored three times in the first half of Sunday night's game against the Carolina Panthers.

Brees found tight end Jimmy Graham for a 5-yard score right before halftime for his third TD pass, making it 88 touchdowns on a wild day across the league. The previous record was 87 in Week 17 of the 2012 season on Dec. 30, according to STATS LLC.

A slew of high-scoring afternoon games set the stage for Brees' record breaker, highlighted by another future Hall of Famer, as Peyton Manning threw four touchdowns in Denver's 51-28 victory over Tennessee.

And despite a handful of games being played in blizzard-like conditions, Philadelphia scored four TDs in the fourth quarter to take down Detroit 34-20, the Vikings and Ravens combined for five TDs in the final two minutes of Baltimore's wild 29-26 win, the Dolphins and Steelers combined for 62 points in a 34-28 thriller won by Miami, and Cincinnati and Indianapolis combined for 10 touchdowns in the Bengals' 42-28 victory.

The Saints and Panthers combined for two more TDs in the second half, setting the day's tally at 90 TDs.