INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, 28 December 2004 — Peyton Manning broke the 20-year-old National Football League record for touchdown passes in a season in dramatic style yesterday as he led the Indianapolis Colts to an overtime victory over San Diego.
Manning threw his record-setting 49th touchdown pass of the season - a 21-yarder over the middle to Brandon Stokley - with 56 seconds left in the fourth quarter before Edgerrin James scored the game-tying two-point conversion and the Colts went on to beat San Diego 34-31.
“I’m just happy we won and, obviously, the way we won sure made it exciting,” Manning said. “To have all those things come together was exciting.”
Manning entered his final home game of the season needing one touchdown pass to tie Dan Marino’s NFL record of 48, set for Miami in 1984.
For most of the day, however, Manning was upstaged by Drew Brees, who celebrated his first Pro Bowl selection with three touchdown passes as the Chargers built a 24-9 lead.
The Colts settled for three field goals by Mike Vanderjagt before Manning tied Marino’s record with a three-yard shovel toss to running back James Mungro with 6:11 left in the third.
Brees then engineered an 11-play, 71-yard drive which LaDainian Tomlinson capped with a 16-yard scoring run five seconds into the fourth.
Dominic Rhodes kept the Colts within striking distance, however, as he returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown.
Manning then took over in the final minutes, directing a nine-play, 80-yard drive. He completed a 19-yard pass to Reggie Wayne on a 4th-and-4 play before unseating Marino in the record books with the pass to Stokley. James then took a handoff from Manning and ran for the two-point conversion, tying the game.
“At the time I threw it, I didn’t have a lot of emotion, because we still needed the two-point conversion,” Manning said. “Without that, we would have a pretty down locker room right now.”
In the overtime, Manning hit Stokley with a 23-yard pass and connected with Wayne on a 35-yard play before Vanderjagt drilled a 30-yard field goal.
The win was the eighth in a row for the Colts, who clinched the third seed in the AFC.
The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Chargers, who clinched the AFC West title last week.
The New England Patriots re-established their dominance in the AFC East with a 23-7 victory over the New York Jets.
Tom Brady rebounded from his worst game of the season - a loss to Miami last week - completing 21-of-32 passes for 264 yards as the Patriots clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs.
The Jets still control their own destiny for a wild card berth and can secure a playoff spot with a victory in St. Louis next week.
Seattle clinched at least a wild card berth with a 24-21 victory over Arizona, and the Seahawks could clinch the NFC West title if St. Louis lose to Philadelphia on Monday.
In a battle of NFC South rivals, Jake Delhomme passed for a career-high four touchdowns to lead Carolina to a 37-20 victory over Tampa Bay.
The Panthers had appeared to be on their way to becoming the fourth straight NFC champions to miss the playoffs the following year.
But despite a wave of injuries, they have won six of their last seven games to stay in the playoff race.
Next week, Carolina will host New Orleans in a game which could determine a wild card berth.
New Orleans kept their hopes alive with a 26-13 victory over playoff-bound Atlanta, who rested quarterback Michael Vick.
Michael Lewis became the second New Orleans player in as many weeks to return a kickoff for a touchdown.
Buffalo also stayed in the postseason hunt, routing hapless San Francisco 41-7 for their sixth win in a row.
Buffalo has won nine of 11 following an 0-4 start and head into the final week of the season tied with Denver for the final AFC wild card spot. The Bills’s hopes were boosted by Pittsburgh’s 20-7 victory over Baltimore and Houston’s 21-0 drubbing of Jacksonville.
The Steelers survived the loss of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was sidelined late in the third quarter with a left rib injury, to clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
The Jaguars fell a game behind Denver and Buffalo in the race for the AFC’s final wild card.
In other games, Detroit beat Chicago 19-13, Dallas defeated Washington 13-10 and Miami defeated Cleveland 10-7.
And while Peyton Manning was celebrating a record-breaking performance, his younger brother Eli Manning’s rookie-season struggles continued as his New York Giants fell 23-22 to Cincinnati, the Giants’ eighth straight defeat.
Gridiron Great Reggie White Dies at 43
Meantime, Reggie White, a defensive end destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame who retired in 2000 as the National Football League’s all-time sacks leader, died early yesterday, his wife, Sara, said in a statement issued from Huntersville, North Carolina.
White, who turned 43 last Sunday, died at his home in Huntersville, North Carolina.
His family’s statement did not give a cause of death.
“Today our beloved husband, father and friend passed away,” Sara White’s statement said. “His family appreciates your thoughts and prayers as we mourn the loss of Reggie White.
“We want to thank you in advance for honoring our privacy.”
Considered by many to be perhaps the NFL’s greatest defensive lineman, White had 198 career sacks with the Philadelphia Eagles (1985-92), Green Bay Packers (1993-98) and Carolina Panthers (2000).
His sacks record was passed last year by Bruce Smith.
White was the defensive star and spiritual leader of the Packers’ back-to-back Super Bowl teams in 1996 and 1997. He had three sacks in the Packers’ 35-21 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 31.
“Reggie was a great guy to have in the locker room and really meant a lot to us as a team, both on and off the field,” said Rams guard Adam Timmerman, a member of Green Bay’s Super Bowl teams with White. “He helped me, personally, with my faith, and I looked up to him the whole time. He was too young a man to have this happen to him. I think that anyone who knew Reggie knows that he is in a better place.”
Nicknamed “The Minister of Defense” for his dominance on the field and because he was an ordained minister, White retired after the 1998 season but returned in 2000 and played one more year with Carolina.
A two-time Defensive Player of the Year, White is expected to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2006 - his first year of eligibility.
After starring at the University Tennessee, White began his pro career with the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League in 1984 and compiled 23 1 2 sacks in two years. Those were not included in his NFL totals.
White started his NFL career in 1985 with the Eagles, who held his rights, after the USFL folded. He had 21 sacks in only 12 games in 1987, one shy of matching the Mark Gastineau’s single-season sack record of 22 - since broken by Michael Strahan of the New York Giants.
He helped the Eagles make the playoffs four times in eight years before signing a four-year, 17 million-dollar contract with Green Bay in 1993.
He had fought for his free agency and was one of the plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit that led to the NFL’s current free agent system.
“He meant as much to us off the field as on it,” said Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw. “He had his name on the lawsuit and didn’t get one penny. That’s the type of guy he is. His character, his integrity was everything any NFL player should aspire to be.”
Along with his dominance on the field, White made an impact in the community, working with inner-city kids and to improve race relations.
White’s reputation was later tarnished somewhat by a speech in which he denounced homosexuality and used ethnic stereotypes, comments he later apologized for.
“Reggie White was a gentle warrior who will be remembered as one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history,” NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in a statement. “Equally as impressive as his achievements on the field was the positive impact he made off the field and the way he served as a positive influence on so many young people.”
