Peyton Manning is a pocket passer. Peyton Manning is purely a pocket passer. He cannot beat a defense with anything except his arm. So, why do defenses hardly ever blitz him?
Last night, I watched another game where a NFL defensive coordinator chose to sit back in zone defense and attempt to fool Peyton Manning with a variety of coverage schemes. It didn’t work. Peyton Manning was allowed to pick a defensive secondary apart, while the defensive line rushed only 3 or 4 linemen. His statistics were 15/25 for 245 yards and 2 touchdowns.
What has happened to common sense in the NFL? Why let an immobile quarterback sit comfortably in the pocket all game and pick you apart? Immobile, dropback, pocket passers are vulnerable to the pass rush. They always have been and always will be. Johnny Unitas, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman, Drew Bledsoe, and, yes, Peyton Manning were, or, are, least effective when forced out of the comfort zone of the passing pocket. Good pocket passers have to be pressured for a defense to be successful because they are too knowledgeable and too accurate for a defense to solely try coverage trickery.
So, why is Peyton Manning hardly ever blitzed? Why have teams not chosen to employ the New England Patriots model of containing the explosive Colts offense? The Patriots have proven that by bumping the Colts smallish wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, and blitzing Peyton Manning often, the Colts attack can be slowed from a gallop to a trot to even being stuck in the starting gate.
What’s the problem? Why are the Patriots the only team to slow down the Colts in the past 3 seasons? What are coaches afraid of?
It’s virtually guaranteed that if you give Peyton Manning time, and, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne room to run, that your defense will be giving up 30+ points. So, what do you have to lose? I just heard last night’s losing coach, Bill Cowher, say that his team’s emphasis was to not give up the big play. Fine, the Colts had one big play, and Manning picked you apart with time killing scoring drives the rest of the game. That’s not even a Pyrrhic victory.
If you’re going to lose, if you’re going to cede 30+ points to the Colts offense anyway, why not try to make some big plays on defense instead of hoping, fruitlessly, that Manning doesn’t find the holes in your zone. You can create big plays by blitzing; some of them may even benefit the defense. Blitzing can cause errant throws, big hits on the quarterback, happy feet in a secure pocket, and uncertainty in offensive play calling. A quarterback’s demeanor can change when he gets bust in the mouth by a blitzing linebacker or safety. A quarterback’s pocket confidence can become shaky when he’s hit on every throw. A quarterback can become too quick on throws, resulting in interceptions, when he knows his pocket time is short.
As a coach, I’d be willing to give up 14 early points if we can get a quarterback out of his comfort zone for the rest of the game. And, when was the last time we saw Peyton Manning bust in the mouth? When was the last time we saw him unsure of himself in the pocket? When was the last time we saw him blitzed with reckless abandoned? When have we seen him outside of his pocket passing comfort zone?
Late in the third quarter of Monday night’s game, with the Colts leading the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-7, and amidst a time consuming 13 play, 7 minute drive, the Steelers decided to blitz. On first and ten at the Pittsburgh 40 yard line, the Steelers sent a cornerback on a blitz. The resulting play was a sack on Peyton Manning. On second and 13 from the Pittsburgh 43, the Steelers blitzed their safety, who plugged the whole, forcing Edgerrin James to the outside for a result of no gain. On third and 13, the Steelers blitzed for the third consecutive down. This time the result was a pressured Peyton Manning wildly missing his intended receiver. Fourth down, bring in the punter.
The only question is why didn’t they figure out they had to blitz until a minute was left in the third quarter? And, why hasn’t the rest of the league figured it out? It’s common sense. You have at least a 50/50 chance if you blitz. If you don’t blitz, the Colts will score 30 points on your defense on an AVERAGE day!
3 replies on “Why Don’t Teams Blitz Peyton Manning?”
Why? Cause they would lose If you blitz Peyton he is going to burn you, its that simple. He reads defenses too well and will audible to a a screen or run play. I know a few times the blitz may have seem to work last night but you have to look at the situation. The Colts were ahead and knew if they didn’t do anything stupid they had the game won. Peyton wasn’t looking to tear them apart in the 2nd half, just merely run time off the clock and don’t commit stupid turnovers. Like the pick he threw in the first half that gave the steelers the ball inside the 10. Peyton has shown many times in the past that you can’t blitz him too much. Plus he has a defense now, so teams like New England can’t go on a quater long drives and keep the ball out of his hands. Peyton is too smart to be beat by the blitz. He had a really good o-line. great running game, and about 5 different people on any given play he can throw too. Last night the Steelers really couldn’t stop him no matter what they did. He knew that since the steelers couldn’t run the ball they had no chance of doing anything on offense unless you gave it to him. And 50/50 chance if you blitz? More like 20/80.
good comment Couldn’t have said those things better myself. Exactly what I was thinking!
Aren’t they already losing? rjahern, maybe you’re right. It seems that what teams have been doing the past 4 seasons against the Colts has obviously been working. And, it’s not like the Patriots defense has ever beat up on Manning and made him look extremely mortal. The only really ‘mortal’ games that Manning has played have been in the playoffs against the Patriots.
And, I don’t think we can say that it’s just the Patriots defense that’s special. One week after forcing 4 interceptions from Manning, the Patriots defense gave up big play after big play (323 yds, 3td) to JAKE DELHOMME.
Speaking of the Patriots, it is not their offense that won those 2 playoff games against Manning, it was their defense. Manning had the ball enough to throw 47 passes and 4 interceptions in the first game, and 42 passes and 1 interception in the second game (which was 6-3 at the half).
Now, on that drive that I spoke of where the Steelers blitzed on 3 consecutive downs and forced a Colts punt, did you say that the Colts were just trying to run time off the clock? It was the 3rd quarter! And, the Colts were still passing the ball downfield.
Further, the blitz is not about being smart. The blitz is about having more blockers than pass rushers. But hey, who are you going to believe, Bill Belichick who has stopped Peyton Manning cold – TWICE. Or are you going to believe your lying eyes that are convincing you that teams are doing something right over the last 48 games where the Colts are 38-10 and the quarterback has thrown 113 touchdowns.
But, hey, maybe you’re right. It’s not like the Colts have double digit wins for 4 years running, or have averaged 30 points a game for three years. I mean, it’s obvious that not blitzing is working so well for the Colts opponents. Yeah, it’s not like Peyton Manning can be bust in the mouth and rattled into a 4 interception game.