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Colts QB
Peyton Manning
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Here is a news flash nobody on the Indianapolis Colts’ schedule wants to hear: You
can forget about a sophomore slump for Indy QB Peyton Manning.
Taken one pick before Ryan Leaf in the 1998 draft, Manning continues to get better by
leaps and bounds.
Leaf leads his team in stupid, immature acts. Manning just leads his team.
The only thing that will silence Leaf’s critics right now is a Midas muffler.
Manning continues to show the Midas touch.
Next stop: superstardom for the runaway train that is Manning’s rapidly developing
career.
"He has improved a lot, and he was pretty darn good last season," said
Patriots defensive coordinator Steve Sidwell, who got a firsthand view of Manning in Week
Two.
"He just seems more confident," added Patriots WR Terry Glenn.
The Chargers saw more of Manning’s growth as a quarterback than they cared to in
Week Three.
"Peyton Manning just threw for over 400 yards, and you just don’t do that in
this league," said Chargers LB Junior Seau after his team’s 27-19 loss to the
Colts.
Said Chargers QB Jim Harbaugh: "He’s picked up right where he left off last
year."
That’s a bit like saying the Beatles picked up right where they left off after
their first hit album. Reserve a spot at the top of the charts, because that’s where
Manning is heading at this rate.
How has Manning improved? How much time do you have?
Sidwell says Manning’s knowledge of the game is better.
Bruce Arians, the Colts’ QB coach, says Manning’s knowledge of the position
has also taken a dramatic jump.
"There’s throws he couldn’t make (last season that he can now), either
from not understanding where it wanted to go so his body wouldn’t allow him to, to
where his eyes would take his hands and feet to places they didn’t need to be,"
Arians said. "And as a quarterback, your eyes lead your hands and feet, so
they’ll get you out of whack sometimes when you (are) throwing to your right (but)
you’re looking over to the left and your shoulders are not in good throwing position.
And he’s worked really hard … to keep his body in throwing position when he
wants to look people off or move his eyes around the field."
Manning’s arm is also stronger this season, according to Arians. Furthermore,
Manning survived all the blitzes opposing teams threw at him a year ago, when he threw a
whopping 575 passes. That, in turn, has made it seem as though the game has slowed down
this year. Plus, well, the list could go on and on. The bottom line is a quarterback who
looks a lot more seasoned than a player who, in reality, is barely into his second year in
pro football.
"He looks like a third-year guy," said one front-office executive from an NFC
team.
Said Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson: "He’s outstanding. I made the
statement to some people the other day that if I was going to start a franchise and look
around the entire league, he’s a guy I would definitely consider."
Part of the reason for Manning’s sensational progress is his preparation. What
George Burns and Groucho Marx were to cigars, Peyton Manning is to notebooks. Joined at
the hip, so to speak.
According to one Colts insider, Manning takes notes in meetings "even on things
that have been gone over 10,000 times."
Said Arians: "He goes through notebooks left and right. That’s his
playbook."
If you think that being a human Xerox machine will result in nothing more than a cramp
in the hand, you’re missing the boat.
"You learn three ways," Arians said. "You see, you write and you read.
If you just watch the film and you listen to what the coaches tell you, you can learn it,
but you can’t study it. When it’s Friday night and Saturday night, you have to
have something written down somewhere. And if it’s just your playbook reading,
it’s not what you wrote down. That’s the last part of the learning curve, of
doing it all and then being able to study exactly what you heard and perceived as you
wrote it down."
Mentioning that Manning likes to study and is a preparation nut is about as much of a
scoop as reporting that the sun came up this morning. What you might not know about
Manning is how competitive he is and what a great leader he has already become.
Let’s start with the competitiveness. Statistically, Manning had one of the great
rookie campaigns you’ll ever see last season. The beautiful thing about the young man
is the fact that he engaged in about as much self-satisfied chest-pounding as a deer on
the opening day of hunting season.
"Going 3-13 (as a team) … I didn’t have a whole lot of fun last
year," Manning said.
"You can’t get into stats. Can’t get into comparisons with other
quarterbacks. You’ve got to just concentrate on your team and helping your team win
games."
That’s what QB leadership is all about. Manning already is acting like a
well-respected veteran in that regard.
On some NFL teams, the receivers don’t like to put in extra work with their
quarterbacks. That’s not the case in Indianapolis. During a minicamp this offseason,
when others were off eating lunch, Manning kept the receivers on the practice field an
extra half hour. His example began to rub off. In time, the receivers were going to
Manning and asking to put in extra work with him. The result is that everyone is on the
same page better than ever on three-step drops vs. five-step drops vs. seven-step drops. A
sixth sense develops on whether a high or low pass is coming. Timing is perfected.
Manning also displays a big-picture sense of leadership. During preseason games, WR
Marvin Harrison was catching most of the balls and the TD passes. Manning approached the
other receivers, including E.G. Green, and said, "Hey, the regular season is here
now, and all the stats are erased. Just be involved. Don’t think the ball is not
coming to you. Expect the ball on every single play."
In the Colts’ 31-14 win over the Bills in Week One, Green caught five passes for
124 yards, including a 50-yard reception.
The extra work, the communication, the pep talks between a quarterback and his
receivers — all are among the most underrated aspects of the game.
Just look at Vikings backup QB Jeff George. Like Manning, George once was the first
player taken in the draft. He even started out with the Colts. But for all of the
expectations, George has been a huge disappointment as a pro.
"George has got amazing talent, but he has no rapport with his receivers at
all," said the NFC front-office executive.
That won’t ever be a problem for Manning.
"What we have to watch is that he doesn’t run the receivers to death,"
Arians said.
After all, Manning’s approach to the game is like a car without brakes. Full speed
ahead. Red lights are meant to be ignored on the football field.
Most players have coaches hounding them to work harder. Manning just might be the first
player in the history of the game to be told by his coaches to ease up.
"The one thing we did when (last) season was over, because he had put so much into
it, we begged him to just go take some time off," Arians said.
At the rate Manning is improving, it won’t be long before opposing defenses are
begging him to do the same. |
