DENVER, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Rich Gannon turned in one of the most amazing performances in the history of the National Football League Monday night, completing a record 21 consecutive passes and throwing for three touchdowns in carrying the Oakland Raiders past the Denver Broncos, 34-10.
Gannon's effort, which included two scoring tosses to 40-year-old Jerry Rice, came in the NFL's 500th Monday night game.
By connecting with his receivers 21 straight times, Gannon broke the single-game record of 20 owned by Cincinnati's Ken Anderson and San Francisco's Steve Young. Gannon, however, barely missed the overall record for consecutive completions. Joe Montana completed 22 in a row in 1987, but he did so over the course of two games.
Rice, meanwhile, became the NFL's all-time combined yardage leader, breaking the record of 21,264 rushing and receiving yards set by the late Walter Payton in a 13-year career that ended in 1987.
The unexpectedly one-sided victory also shook up the AFC West standings. Denver slipped to 6-3 and fell back into a tie for first place in the division with the San Diego Chargers. Oakland, which broke a four-game losing streak, moved within a game of the division lead.
"We had lost four in a row and needed to come up with a big game," Gannon said. "There were a lot of bad things going on around the facility. It was hard to come to work. We needed to rededicate ourselves. We felt we had to be aggressive and take the game to them."
Gannon completed 34 of 38 passes for 352 yards and was successful on 29 of his first 30 throws. Rice, pro football's all-time leading receiver, caught nine passes for 103 yards.
Although Gannon was virtually unstoppable with Oakland's controlled passing attack, the Raiders took early control of the game thanks to a 98-yard interception return for a touchdown by Rod Woodson.
With the Broncos trailing, 3-0, Brian Griese guided Denver to a second and goal at the Oakland four in the first period. But Woodson stepped in front of a pass just past the line of scrimmage intended for Clinton Portis and took off down the right sideline.
Gannon then took over, driving the Raiders 69 yards in the second quarter en route to a 32-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal. Gannon also delivered touchdown drives of 80, 96 and 72 yards and ended those marches with touchdown passes of six and 34 yards to Rice and 22 yards to Jerry Porter.
Gannon's record for consecutive passes in a single game could have been even greater if Oakland Coach Bill Callahan had decided to challenge an official's call in the first half. After completing his first eight throws, Gannon threw a sideline pass that Charlie Garner caught but was ruled to have been out of bounds.
Replays indicated, however, that Garner got two feet down in bounds. If that had been allowed as a completion, Gannon would have been good on 30 consecutive throws.
The only Denver points came on a one-yard run by Portis in the second quarter and a field goal of 27 yards by Jason Elam in the third period. Griese saw his streak of 23 straight games with at least one touchdown pass come to an end.
Griese completed 34 of 47 passes for 293 yards.
