It took a little longer than expected for Eli Manning to break Phil Simms' career record for touchdown passes by a New York Giants quarterback.

But Manning was back to something resembling the form with which he had great success in the early part of the season.

After a three-week touchdown drought, he led the Giants to a dominant win over the Green Bay Packers.

What are the three things that Manning did best, based on our advanced statistical review?

Threw the ball inside: Manning succeeded in hitting his receivers on throws in between the painted numbers. He was 10-for-16 for 182 yards with all three of his touchdowns on those throws.

Manning was able to complete throws inside the numbers at a similar rate (61 percent) during his slump, but he failed to net big gains on those throws, averaging 10.6 yards per completion.

The three touchdown throws helped his touchdown-to-interception ratio. Entering the game, he had seven touchdowns and five interceptions on those passes in 2012.

Third-down success: Manning had been mediocre on third down in the three games prior to this one, completing 12 of his 29 throws, with a pair of interceptions. But on Sunday night, he was near perfect. Manning went 6-for-7 for 82 yards and three touchdowns on third down.

The three third-down touchdown passes matched his career-best for a regular season game. He also completed the feat against the Carolina Panthers in 2006.

Shotgun: Manning was 8-for-10 for 92 yards and three touchdowns on his throws out of shotgun. He had gone 38-for-70 in it over his previous three games, with three interceptions and six sacks.

Elias Stat of the Day: Manning now has 200 touchdown passes, one more than Simms did in his Giants career. Manning is the fourth-quickest to 200 touchdown throws among active quarterbacks (132 games). Eli's brother Peyton Manning got there fastest, in 106 games.