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Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning made a great play on a 22-yard gain to Demaryius Thomas on Monday night against Oakland. It was a great throw, with perfect ball placement, but the game film showed there was much more to that highlight play that probably went unnoticed.
The play the Broncos called was ruined right after the snap, and Manning made something happen on his secondary read. Manning's quick decision making and execution on the play were impressive.
The Broncos showed a power run to the right, and ran a play-action fake off it. The left guard pulled to sell the run fake. Tight end Julius Thomas and slot receiver Wes Welker ran vertical routes. The goal was to get middle linebacker Nick Roach and the slot cornerback to come up on the run fake, so Welker and Thomas could run deep with one safety to deal with them both.
Two things prevented this play from happening as drawn up. Thomas got jammed at the line. And Roach didn't come up on the run fake, because it was a "Tampa two" zone defense. Roach's first responsibility in that defense is to step back, then come up if it's a handoff.
Here's Thomas just after getting jammed, and you can see Roach (53) dropping back in both angles:
When Manning turns his head around after faking the handoff, he sees those two things and knows design of the play is done. He is not going to get what he was expecting.
Bill Walsh loved to the use the term "isolate" for what Manning did next – the quarterback has to immediately isolate what’s important and pertinent on that play. Another quarterback might have sat on that initial read for another second, which is an eternity in an NFL game. And then you have nothing.
Manning went right to the backside out route by Demaryius Thomas.
And the throw itself is as good as you’ll ever see. That’s what ball location is all about. That’s not the primary read. He was looking front side, because of Thomas and Welker, and came back around to find Thomas and hit him with a perfect throw.
The play the Broncos called was ruined right after the snap, and Manning made something happen on his secondary read. Manning's quick decision making and execution on the play were impressive.
The Broncos showed a power run to the right, and ran a play-action fake off it. The left guard pulled to sell the run fake. Tight end Julius Thomas and slot receiver Wes Welker ran vertical routes. The goal was to get middle linebacker Nick Roach and the slot cornerback to come up on the run fake, so Welker and Thomas could run deep with one safety to deal with them both.
Two things prevented this play from happening as drawn up. Thomas got jammed at the line. And Roach didn't come up on the run fake, because it was a "Tampa two" zone defense. Roach's first responsibility in that defense is to step back, then come up if it's a handoff.
Here's Thomas just after getting jammed, and you can see Roach (53) dropping back in both angles:
When Manning turns his head around after faking the handoff, he sees those two things and knows design of the play is done. He is not going to get what he was expecting.
Bill Walsh loved to the use the term "isolate" for what Manning did next – the quarterback has to immediately isolate what’s important and pertinent on that play. Another quarterback might have sat on that initial read for another second, which is an eternity in an NFL game. And then you have nothing.
Manning went right to the backside out route by Demaryius Thomas.
And the throw itself is as good as you’ll ever see. That’s what ball location is all about. That’s not the primary read. He was looking front side, because of Thomas and Welker, and came back around to find Thomas and hit him with a perfect throw.
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