Shutting down Peyton Manning is darn near impossible. So a reader over at Iggles Blitz decided to come up with some “creative” ideas. Hilarious stuff from ATG.
I think the team should embrace the opportunity to do something special. Playing straight up, our defense loses. Davis is going to need to get creative. And, as we all know, creativity that works becomes innovation.
• Combine man and zone coverages. Have the players in a zone scheme, but all playing with their backs to Manning so that his eye manipulations are rendered useless.
•Rotate players. All over the field. Manning is a student of the game, but he has very little film to study of what kind of a look to expect when Cox and Curry rotate back to a 2-deep safety look.
•Disguised blitzes. Manning is good at diagnosing plays, so we need to get creative… or innovative. Put Riley at corner, have him lay down and disappear in the grass like he did last year. At the snap, he starts army crawling towards Manning, unbeknownst to the Oline or RB. Riley pops up, yells “Yoink!” as he yanks the ball from Manning’s hand and runs for a touchdown. All they need is a coverage scheme to give them about 40 seconds for the blitz to get home.
•Teamwork and timing. Davis should insist his entire secondary wear gloves that are football colored. When the ball is snapped, they take them off. When Manning throws, they all throw their football-colored, inflated gloves at the intended receiver.
•Get the fans into it. On the road this seems counter-intuitive, or innovative. When Manning drops back, have one of the defenders strip naked and run around waving their arms in the air – Nate Allen usually doesn’t seem too busy – and screaming. The collective gasp from the crowd in the already-thin Denver air will create a complete vacuum, causing the ball to explode.
Now, right there are 5 creative (innovative?) ideas for our defense, and I don’t even have any coaching experience at the professional level, believe it or not. Honestly, they don’t even need to all work. If just 3 of them are effective, we have a chance to win this game.
Wow, I am feeling more confident already.
Great stuff. I don’t see how the Eagles can lose.
