Manning in motion: Super Bowl QB always mixing things up
MIAMI - Peyton Manning barks out the name of the play: "TRIPS RIGHT 255 X BLOCK SLANT H DISCO ALERT 12 TRAP."
The Colts pivot into position. He starts to call signals for the hike.
No, wait!
The NFL's best quarterback spots something he doesn't like. Maybe a linebacker set to blitz from the blind side. Or a cornerback sneaking up.
"Blue 15! Blue 15!" he hollers.
Now begins the Peyton Shuffle. Shouting. Stomping. Waving his arms like a marionette gone mad. Choreographed chaos, really. Manning in motion.
Every defense is a matrix, and no one in football solves them like this year's Most Valuable Player.
"He sees those things so well that I can't even explain it," Indianapolis right tackle Ryan Diem says. "It's not to say he has a sixth sense or anything, but ..."
He does this time.
Manning takes six fast steps toward the line of scrimmage. His helmet swivels as he scans the whole field.
Darren Sharper might take a look behind him - if he dares.
"I don't know if you want to read Peyton's eyes too much. He kind of has those cat eyes that'll trick you if you watch them too much," the New Orleans safety says.
Here's what the Saints need to answer Sunday in the Super Bowl against the Colts: Is Manning really changing the play, or just bluffing?
Manning sure looks like he's calling an audible. He gets between center Jeff Saturday and right guard Kyle DeVan. He points once, twice, three times with his right arm at a defender.
"Pickle!" he yells. "Richmond!" he might say. Or "Yo-yo!" or "Sally!" or "Orange!"
Pretty soon, he'll be in full fury, patrolling from end to end, a Civil War general surveying his front line.
Star Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis grins. He's seen this act plenty. "You've got to figure out what's real and what's not. That's the main thing," Lewis advises.
Got to do it quickly, too.
Manning shakes his right index finger toward the right side, curls his left thumb and fingers to form a "C." Could be hand signals checking to another play, perhaps "Dice Right Ice Cream Alert 654 Jose."
"If you want to look at it like a chessboard, he is putting his pieces in place," DeVan says.
The Colts work without a huddle and Manning calls his own plays, a rarity at any level of the game. Offensive coordinator Tom Moore usually tells him three plays per snap - two runs, one pass. NFL rules permit coaches to deliver their message via wireless earpiece in the quarterback's helmet.
"I just give him ideas and he goes from there," Moore says.
Manning often improvises. Exactly how much, no one says.
"He tells me before the game, 'Hey, if you see something out there, you call it. You change it and I have your back,' " Manning says. "Some coaches tell their quarterbacks, 'Hey, you can change the play, but it better work.' That is not confidence. That is a threat.
"I have certain limitations," he adds. "I am not allowed to change to the double reverse pass back to the quarterback."
Split out wide, rookie receiver Austin Collie hones in on each Manning gesture.
"Everything Peyton does means something. Given that, it has been a journey trying to get all of that down and making sure you are on the same page as Peyton," Collie says.
Early in the season, Collie's wife helped him with his homework. She'd quiz him on the playbook.
NFL teams get 40 seconds between plays. The clock is down to 15. Still at the line, Manning shuffles three steps to his left. He says something to tight end Dallas Clark.
Tackle Charlie Johnson stays in his three-point stance, but twists to listen. Star wide receiver Reggie Wayne studies Manning and relaxes his shoulders for a moment.
"It's quite confusing," Wayne says, smiling. "Just tell me the end result."
But Manning wants to hear from his pass catchers.
"Tell me what is going on out there. Make suggestions, and real suggestions. Not just, 'Hey, I'm open. Throw it to me every time.' Which is what most receivers say," Manning says.
Whether Manning likes what he sees here, it's hard to say. Ol' No. 18 is waving his arms like a frenetic Frankenstein.
Colts running back Joseph Addai admits he gets mesmerized by the Peyton Shuffle and can forget his assignment. "I think it's easier for me than for the receivers. I'm standing next to him. He can just say, 'Joe, do this.'"
With eight seconds left on the play clock, Manning takes a few stutter steps into the backfield and is ready to go.
"It's like, 'Darn, he found our weakness,' " says New York Jets star defensive end Shaun Ellis, who played with Manning at the University of Tennessee.
With three seconds to spare, Manning stomps his left foot, then twice his taps his right foot.
Hike!
It looks so easy.
"Somebody has to show me they can stop 18," says Pro Bowl linebacker DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans, who predicts the Colts will zip past the Saints. "I don't think it can be done."
SUPER BOWL XLIVIndianapolis Colts (16-2) vs. New Orleans Saints (15-3) When: 5:25 p.m. SundayThe line: Colts by 5Over-under: 561/2Last meeting: Although it was tied 10-10 at halftime, the Colts won 41-10 at home in a season-opening Thursday night game on Sept. 6, 2007. Peyton Manning completed 18 of 30 passes for 288 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions, while Drew Brees completed 28 of 41 passes for 192 yards with no TD passes and 2 interceptions. The Colts' Joseph Addai rushed for 118 yards, while the Saints managed 106 rushing yards as a team. Indy WR Reggie Wayne caught 7 passes for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns.Matchup to watch: Injured Colts DRE Dwight Freeney vs. Saints OLT Jermon Bushrod, a first-year starter. Freeney, who intends to play despite a badly sprained ankle, had 131/2 sacks in the regular season and has 84 since entering the league in 2002. He has also forced 36 fumbles, more than anyone in the NFL over the past eight seasons.By the numbers: Saints QB Drew Brees led the NFL with a 109.6 passer rating. ... Colts QB Peyton Manning is 9-8 in postseason play. ... The Colts' offense is No. 2 in passing yards but No. 32 in rushing yards. The Saints are No. 4 in passing yards and No. 6 in rushing yards. - Both teams are 7-1 on the road. - Manning was sacked just 10 times in 571 regular-season passing plays, but he has gone down four times in the postseason in 83 pass plays. - Brees was intercepted just 11 times while throwing 514 regular-season passes, and he hasn't been picked off in the postseason. - Saints 23-year-old PK Garrett Hartley has attempted just 24 career field goals, but he has converted 22 of them (91.7 percent). Colts 42-year-old PK Matt Stover has 563 career FG attempts in a 20-year career and has converted 471 (83.7 percent). Stover is 5-for-5 in the current postseason, and Hartley is 2-for-2.Pick: Saints 31, Colts 28The skinny: Manning rates a slight edge over Brees, and the Colts have the benefit of Super Bowl experience three years ago. But the Saints have a much better run game, and the Colts will struggle to pressure Brees with Freeney hobbled.Bob LeGere's recordLast week: straight up, 2-0 Last week: vs. the spread, 1-1Season total: straight up, 178-88Season total: vs. the spread: 133-129-4