NEW ORLEANS -- Drew Brees made NFL history again Monday night -- beating Tom Brady in their race to Peyton Manning's career touchdown record.

Brees threw two touchdown passes against the Indianapolis Colts to tie Manning's record of 539. Brady is now one back at 538.

Brees, who turns 41 next month, also broke Manning's record for career passing yards last season and entered Monday night's game with 76,577. The NFL stopped the game for that accomplishment for a brief ceremony that included his family and a representative from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Brees had downplayed the significance of the record this week while the Saints (10-3) are in a tight battle for the NFC's top seeds with the Seattle Seahawks (11-3), San Francisco 49ers (11-3), Green Bay Packers (11-3) and Minnesota Vikings (10-4).

"I think obviously before the season you know you are a certain distance away. But then once the season starts, you just focus on winning games and doing what I need to do as a quarterback of this team to put us in the best position to succeed and to win," Brees said this week. "And with that, I guess the statistics come, and maybe they add up. And then all of a sudden you're close enough to be within striking distance of some of those things. But I'm really not thinking about it."

Brees tied Brady at 538 with a 15-yard pass to Michael Thomas in the second quarter. Then he tied Manning at 539 with a 21-yard TD throw to Tre'Quan Smith midway through the second quarter. That helped New Orleans to a 17-0 lead.

Smith has a knack for history. He also caught the 62-yard touchdown pass last season when Brees set the yardage record.

Thomas, meanwhile, broke his own franchise record of 125 catches in a season -- which he set last year. And he remains on pace to break Marvin Harrison's NFL record of 143 catches in a season.

If Brees and Brady both pass Manning, it will be the first time the NFL's top two leaders in career TD passes were active players since Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton in 1973. Since then, Tarkenton, Dan Marino, Brett Favre and Manning have held the record.