Great read at MMQB: How Peyton Manning changed football

[KB_fan]

Really interesting reading about how Manning changed what's expected of QBs re: the mental game:

http://mmqb.si.com/2016/03/07/peyton-manning-retirement-nfl-legacy

I'm reminded of what Luke said prior to the Super Bowl about how hard it was to find any clues to Manning, how he was always changing up calls and signals... you'd see something 3 or 4 times and think "AHA" and then time number 4 or 5, it would be different.

Here's an excerpt:
 

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Peyton Manning revolutionized the game. We used to think the no-huddle was fast-paced—get to the line of scrimmage and get people off balance. Peyton revolutionized it—get to the line of scrimmage, take our time, find out what the defense is doing and then I’m going to pick you apart.”

When I think of that, I think of a 2006 playoff game: Colts versus Ravens, on a Saturday afternoon in downtown Baltimore. Three days before the game, Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan agreed to share his game plan, with the proviso that nothing would get reported until afterward. Ryan was so excited that day—thrilled with the prospect of chasing Manning down with his ferocious pass-rush and Indy’s porous offensive line. Manning, he told me, wouldn’t have time to play his mental tricks on the defense, because by the time he set up to throw, Ryan’s blitz would have destroyed the pocket.

The prologue to the game plan that week read: “First and foremost, this is a finesse, non-physical offense.” It was a game plan both respectful (of Manning) and disdainful (of everything else). “If you don’t disrupt Peyton’s timing and his rhythm, you have no chance,” Ryan said that day, after he’d shared the game plan. “But as big a challenge as we face in Peyton, he faces a bigger challenge in us.”

Final score: Colts 15, Ravens 6. The pass-rush, fearsome on previous weekends, was tentative. In 31 pass-drops, I counted Manning being pressured three times and sacked once. Manning kept going to the line, acting as if he was about to snap, then waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting until one of the 11 defensive players showed his hand, and only then, with three or two seconds left on the play clock, would he take the snap and run a play. Manning wasn’t masterly by any means that day; the Colts won on five Adam Vinatieri field goals. But in the second half the Colts were privately gleeful when they heard Ray Lewis on several occasions screaming to his teammates on defense: “DON’T MOVE! DON’T MOVE!” Unable to get a head start, the Ravens struggled to force Indy into mistakes.

• PEYTON MANNING UNPLUGGED: In 2014, he talked about his advice to young QBs, and his legacy

I found Ryan on the field after the game. He looked like his dog just died. “Damn!” he said, shaking his head after watching Manning play games with his D, holding the Ravens sackless for the first 49 minutes. “He’s a stud,” Ryan said. “An unbelievable player. He didn’t fall for one of our bluffs all day.”

“The minute you tipped anything as a defensive player,” former Manning center Jeff Saturday said here Monday, “even a yard or two, he’d know. He’d watch the tape, and he’d get the backup quarterbacks to watch, and they’d find something—every week. If teams picked up the audible, he’d just get to the huddle and say, ‘Okay, we’re changing the signal.’ And it’d be a different word.”

“Sometimes he didn’t wait until mid-game. On the plane to Jacksonville before the 2002 opener, he told receiver Qadry Ismail that the hand signals for a comeback route, which had been two fingers all week, now were going to be a fist. Manning thought studious Jags defenders might have seen something late the previous season, or in a preseason game. In that 2002 game, Ismail told Manning the Jacksonville corner, Jason Craft, knew that when Manning made a shoveling motion at the line or called the world “Crane,” Ismail would run a short dig route. Later in the game, Manning gave Ismail “Crane!”

“Easiest double move I ever ran in my life. Touchdown,” Ismail recalled.

 

 

[KB_fan]

There's also a great tribute to Manning by Broncos LB Brandon Marshall at MMQB.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/03/08/nfl-denver-broncos-peyton-manning-tribute-brandon-marshall-linebacker

He talks about how Peyton treated him when he was a new Practice Squad player in Denver and what that's meant for his career.
 

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I love Peyton Manning, but not because he’s a great teammate or an incredible leader or a genuine person. He is all of those things. I love him because he changed my life, and he doesn’t even know it. During his retirement speech at team headquarters on Monday, I was sitting in the front row when he recited this Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: “Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be.”

Peyton introduced me to this idea on my first day in Denver. Before my second NFL season, I had already been released by the Jaguars three times. My choices going into 2013 were: Return to the Jaguars’ practice squad; join a struggling Raiders team; sign with the Broncos’ practice squad. I chose stability over the opportunity to possibly get on the field sooner.

On my first day in Denver, coach John Fox introduced me in a team meeting. “All right guys, we have a new practice squad guy," he said. “His name is Brandon Marshall.” After the meeting, Peyton walked over to me and said, incredibly, “Hey man, I’m Peyton Manning. Nice to meet you.”

I'm thinking, Why is Peyton Manning introducing himself to me? But there was purpose in that introduction that I didn’t understand at the time. Peyton knows that each member of the team has the potential to play a critical role in preparation and on game day. Acknowledging the new practice squad guy and treating him like a veteran starter is about holding people accountable. That week, despite being winded by the high altitude, I earned my first of many Practice Squad Player of the Week awards.

From that moment on I watched him closely. I saw how competitive he was, his approach to the game, and how serious he was about it. I looked at Peyton and cornerback Champ Bailey not simply for how hard they practiced, but also for how smart they practiced. I started focusing on technique and the details the coaches taught us—in coverage, keep my eyes on the receiver's waste; don’t cross my feet when pressing a receiver; use both hands when taking on a lineman. Attention to detail, attention to detail, attention to detail.

[...]

And it’s not just the starters he cares about, as I learned on my first day in Denver. He cares equally about the practice squad guy busting his ass, which is why Peyton gave props in his farewell press conference to Jordan Taylor, the little-known backup who ran routes for him while he was recovering from injury this season. Peyton finds guys who are putting in the work, hungry, and doing the right things, and he takes an interest in us. That’s how you lead.

Almost immediately I understood this about No. 18 back in 2013: I can't just be a mediocre guy in practice and expect to earn a paycheck. He will expose you. He forced me to raise my level of play in practice, which gave me an opportunity to become a starter and contribute in a big way to a championship team.

 

Cool stuff.  Hope a lot of the vets on the Panthers will read this and that we too will be a team (I think we already are...) that is known for bringing out the best in even our least known players....

[Cary Kollins]

This past year aside, Manning really was unbelievable to watch, and not only in his prime. What he was able to do in Denver after his neck surgery and in his late 30's was incredible.

Truly an all-time great.

[The NFL Shield At Midfield]

19 minutes ago, Haplo E said:

What the hell does that even mean! This is sports. It's about running catching and athleticism. Peyton didn't change sh!t. Nonsense! Cam have changed the sports more in his short time in the league.

great points man