thursday’s Super bowl news & notes More from East Rutherford, N.J.

SHERMAN SAYS MANNING THROWS SOME DUCKS

Peyton Manning and Richard Sherman can agree to agree.

No war of words between the record-setting Broncos quarterback and the star Seahawks cornerback who will try to slow him down in the Super Bowl.

In his regular column for MMQB.com, Sherman ranked Manning as the smartest quarterback in the NFL a few weeks ago.

After gushing about his adjustments for a few sentences, Sherman added: “His arm, however, is another story. His passes will be accurate and on time, but he throws ducks.”

Not exactly a revelation to anybody who has watched Manning toss a football. Asked about the “ducks” on Wednesday, Sherman said, “Well, I still feel the same way I felt.”

“He is a great quarterback. He does a great job,” he added. “At the same time, when he catches the ball he doesn’t necessarily catch the laces all the time. He throws an accurate ball in regards to how he catches it. He just gets it on time and delivers it accurately.”

And so Manning was asked about that comment Thursday and wasn’t the least bit offended.

“I believe it to be true,” he quipped.

“I do throw ‘ducks,”’ he said. “I’ve thrown a lot of yards and touchdown ‘ducks.’ I am actually quite proud of it.”

Told later Thursday of Manning’s response, Sherman said: “I agree. That’s exactly what I said.”

Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas described Manning’s’ passes as “like catching tissue paper.”

“It’s so easy to catch, it really doesn’t matter if it’s a spiral or wobbly,” he said.

BOEING JET HONORS SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

A Boeing 747-8 jet decked out in a Seahawks paint scheme to honor the team playing in the Super Bowl took its support a step further Thursday.

The plane flew over Eastern Washington after taking off from Seattle’s Boeing Field with a flight plan that spelled out 12. The flight path stretched from the southern border of the state between Washington and Oregon almost to the eastern border of Idaho to completely spell out the two numbers.

The plane — normally used for flight testing — featured a 12 on the tail and the phrase “Spirit of 12s Go Hawks” on one side of the plane. The new paint scheme was unveiled Wednesday.

CHANCELLORS SAYS SEATTLE WON’t OVERDO DEFENSE

Having two weeks to prepare for the Super Bowl can sometimes lead to too much study of the opposition.

That’s especially true when getting ready for an offense like Denver and all the different formations and adjustments Manning uses.

It’s been thought that Sunday could be filled with checks and changes from both Denver’s offense and Seattle’s defense. But strong safety Kam Chancellor said he expects the Seahawks to stay with their basic defensive principles.

“I think you can do too much. I think you can kind of look at too much also,” Chancellor said. “Once you find your formula and what you need to know, I think you need to stick with that and go with it. And if it’s something you didn’t see on film, you just have to run and react. Be athletic, be disciplined to the coverage that you are in.”

UNION: NFL’S HGH TESTING HELD UP BY APPEALS PROCESS

When the Super Bowl ends, three complete seasons will have come and gone without testing for human growth hormone — even though the NFL and the players’ union originally paved the way to check for that drug in August 2011.

NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said Thursday that HGH testing is still being held up by a disagreement with the league over whether the commissioner or a neutral arbitrator will handle certain types of appeals.

The union wants someone other than Commissioner Roger Goodell to rule on cases that involve violations of the law or demonstrated use of a performance-enhancing substance without a positive test.

“We believe that neutral arbitration ... enhances and strengthens our system,” Smith said at a news conference.

Otherwise, Smith said, “The HGH policy’s done. It’s been done. The drug policy overall is 98 percent done.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said another outstanding issue is whether a second offense will draw a suspension of eight or 10 games.

“When there are continuing new demands (from the union), it is hard to get an agreement,” McCarthy wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

PLENTY OF SUPER WAGERS TO MAKE

The Chicago Bears were such big favorites over the New England Patriots in the 1986 Super Bowl that bettors were reluctant to put their money on either team.

But many of them couldn’t wait to place a few bucks on the chance Bears coach Mike Ditka might give William “The Refrigerator” Perry the ball on short yardage and let him try to score a touchdown.

Ditka did just that, and Perry made the move pay off. The defensive lineman scored a touchdown in the third quarter of a 46-10 blowout, and bettors who got up to 40-1 odds on the proposition bet scored along with him.

“That was the prop that put everybody on the map,” Jimmy Vaccaro said. “We lost $40,000 on one bet and the guy across the street blew so much he wanted to go upstairs and jump off the roof.”

Linemen still score touchdowns only rarely. But betting on the so-called “props” put up by Las Vegas sports books has become big.

At Vaccaro’s South Point hotel sports book, gamblers can bet on some 300 different proposition bets, from who will win the opening coin toss to the 1,000-1 odds on either the Denver Broncos or Seattle Seahawks scoring a touchdown in the big game.

Find an offshore book to wager with, and the props become even more exotic. At the Bovada website, bettors can wager on things as diverse as how many times Peyton Manning will say “Omaha” during the game (over/under 27 1/2) to how long it will take Renee Fleming to sing the national anthem (2:25 is the book’s guess).

“It’s a higher number than we’ve offered in the past,” said Bovada oddsmaker Pat Morrow.

Associated Press