NFL
After further review, Manning’s record stands
ENGLEWOOD – Peyton Manning’s spectacular season was every bit the record-breaking sensation it appeared. The NFL said Tuesday that Manning’s single-season mark of 5,477 yards passing will stand.
Elias Sports Bureau, the league’s official statistician, reviewed a 7-yard pass from Manning to wide receiver Eric Decker and determined it will remain a forward pass and not a lateral, which would have made it a 7-yard run.
That would have subtracted 7 yards from Manning’s total, leaving him with 5,470 yards, six shy of Drew Brees’ 2011 record.
“The stats crew at the game scored this play as a forward pass. During the course of a season, there are many similar plays which could be reviewed by the Elias,” NFL spokesman Michael Signora said. “In this case, the determination of Elias is that the fairest resolution is for the ruling of the on-site stats crew to stand.”
The play in question occurred with just more than a minute remaining in the first quarter of Denver’s 34-14 win at Oakland on Sunday.
Remember that camera angles can be deceiving, depending on where the camera is located. But there were two angles that would back up whichever argument one wants to make.
Manning’s pass clearly looks like a lateral in one camera angle. Another angle, from above, however, appears to show Decker gathering in the ball at the Denver 48-yard line with Manning about a foot deeper than that.
auto racing
Schumacher undergoes a second surgery on head
GRENOBLE, France – Michael Schumacher underwent a second surgery after a brain scan showed small, “surprising” signs of improvement, but grim doctors said Tuesday they could offer no insight into the prognosis for the Formula One champion.
Schumacher, who turns 45 on Friday, suffered critical head injuries when he fell and struck a rock Sunday while skiing on a family vacation in the French Alps. His manager confirmed that the accident cracked his helmet, which doctors credited for giving him a chance at survival.
Schumacher’s condition stabilized somewhat after the second surgery, but he remains in a medically induced coma – and doctors gave no prediction on how long that would last.
“We cannot tell you any more about the future,” said Gerard Saillant, a surgeon and friend of the family who is in Grenoble. Saillant said it would be “stupid” to make any predictions about Schumacher’s recovery.
Schumacher and his 14-year-old son were skiing in the French Alpine resort of Meribel, where the family has a chalet, when he fell and hit the right side of his head on a rock. He was taken first to a local hospital, then to Grenoble University Hospital, which is recognized as having one of France’s best neurology teams.
college football
Jimbo Fisher gets jumbo extension from Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher will remain with the program through 2018 after signing a three-year contract extension.
Texas reportedly had interest in Fisher replacing coach Mack Brown before Florida State made the announcement on Tuesday.
The top-ranked Seminoles will face Auburn in the BCS championship game on Monday night.
Fisher’s previous deal ran through 2015 and paid $2.75 million annually. Details of the extension were not immediately available.
The Seminoles have returned to national prominence in four seasons under Fisher after Florida State posted 7-6 records in three of the last four seasons with coach Bobby Bowden. Florida State went undefeated during the regular season for the first time since 1999 and has won back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference championships. The program hadn’t won consecutive conference titles since 2002-03.
Associated Press
