Superbowl 50

[SteelCurtain]

Besides, I thought this was Peyton "invented the art of reading defenses" Manning we're talking about?

He barely moved the ball downfield (only 5 passing first downs), he came up short on a Super Bowl record 13 3rd down conversions.

Lol did you just Huggy me?!

I didn't say he played a great game, I said he didn't play awful.

And him throwing the ball away is a perfect example of him reading defenses. When the defense comes out in a shell, as Carolina does (they come out in a 34 shell and switch to Cover-3 a lot, he'll call a play and use hard count to get the defense to show their true coverage. He sees single coverage on the outside and if Caldwell or Thomas get a good release that fade is there. Problem is Thomas is turning out to be a flop and a half. That 30+ yard run by CJ Anderson in the third? That was Manning switching into that play. You hear him "Kill! Kill!" (he says "wobble! wobble!" Or "Omaha!" to flip the play). He can't make DeMaryius Thomas hold onto the ball. He read hot routes on Double A Gap blitzes and completed to Manny Sanders and Owen Daniels multiple times with Luke Keuchly in his face. Carolina was coming for him, and he played well considering he can't fit the ball in to tight spots any more; he doesn't have the accuracy or zip on the ball. Manning's bread and butter has always been taking what the defense gives him. He made a dumb throw on that Fire Zone blitz and gave a pick to a defensive end, but you take that matchup any day. A defensive end on Manny Sanders? Yessir. The throw was sloppy and didn't have enough touch on it.