Why The Patriots Defense Must Disguise Coverages, Jam Receivers vs. Peyton Manning

The New England Patriots will be getting in on the Halloweekend fun, dressing up their defense to make it look like something else.

Disguising coverage: it’s a phrase thrown around quite a bit every time the Denver Broncos — or whichever team is being led by quarterback Peyton Manning — come up on the schedule. And with good reason. Manning is heralded for his ability to read a defense before the snap of the ball, which allows him to get his offense into the perfect play to beat whatever his opponent is throwing at him.

The Patriots’ ability to disguise their looks will play a big role in whether this Sunday’s game ends in a trick or a treat.

“He can read the defense like no other,” said cornerback Alfonzo Dennard. “That’s all I can say. He’s a great player. He’s been in this league a long time, so he knows the defense very well. We’ve just got to try to give him a different look every time.”

With 17 years and 247 starts worth of experience, there isn’t a whole lot a defense can throw at Manning that he hasn’t already seen. This will be Manning’s 23rd career start against the Patriots, the most times he has faced any team in the NFL.

This will also be Manning’s 23rd performance against Bill Belichick (Belichick holds a 12-10 advantage in wins and losses), so Manning is no stranger to preparing to match wits with one of the league’s best head coaches.

Even in his golden years, with waning physical skills, that preparation could be Manning’s best weapon.

“I would have to say probably his film study, the amount of work he puts in off the field, knowing the personnel he’s going against,” safety Duron Harmon said of what makes Manning so good pre-snap. “You can just tell he knows what coverages are while he’s about to call for the snap and after the snap, he does a great job of looking at coverages pre-snap and post-snap.”

Disguising coverage sounds good in theory, but a game plan always sounds good until you get punched in the mouth — or in this case, until Manning drops back to throw.

Besides, Manning has his own weapons to help against a disguise, and none of them are named Julius Thomas, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, or Wes Welker. His best weapon to combat the Patriots’ pre-snap disguise is a hard count.

“It’s definitely something he uses to his advantage to make us show our hand and to show where we’re bringing pressure or where we’re dropping into coverage,” linebacker Akeem Ayers said. “So it’s going to be on us to really just be on track about that and expect those type of things and be disciplined, just try to do the best we can to hold our looks.”

Not only do hard counts help Manning get a read on the defense, but hard counts can also give the Broncos free yards; Manning caught the San Diego Chargers defense offsides five times in the AFC Divisional playoff meeting last season.

Hard counts and pre-snap disguise have likely been two key points of emphasis this week in practice, which means rookie quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo has had the tall task of trying to mimic one of the game’s best quarterbacks.

“Jimmy [Garappolo]’s done a great job of trying to emulate him this week, definitely with his hard counts, trying to make people move and stuff like that,” Harmon said. “You’ve just got to be patient and watch him, try to watch tendencies when he’s up at the line, and maybe notice something that might tip off that he might go with the hard count.”

The players can’t be too weary of Manning’s mannerisms and gyrations at the line of scrimmage, as he is known for “dummy audibles” that are meant to distract a defense and don’t actually mean anything or change the play in any way.

Belichick was wired for sound during the Patriots’ 2010 meeting with Manning, and in the four-minute video, he says the words “disguise” and “jam” 12 times.

As important as it is for the Patriots to hide their hand and not let Manning call their bluff, it’s just as importanat to mess up the timing between Manning and his receivers.

“Definitely want this to be a physical game on our part,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. “They have a lot of big receivers, a lot of quick guys. The one thing we are going to have to do that I think we are pretty good at is being aggressive. Whether it is jamming or they have a lot of crossers, so just being aggressive and coming down on that. Peyton is going to get those guys the ball no matter how or when or whether they are double-covered or whatever. We are just going to have to do a real good job on the line of scrimmage and just be aggressive with these guys.”

The Patriots will have to be careful in that respect. They have been flagged for nine defensive holding penalties, the most by any team in the NFL through Week 8.

But they will have to try, anyway; a combination of good disguise and good jams at the line of scrimmage is the starting point for stopping Manning and the high-powered Broncos.

The Patriots loaded up on talent in the secondary this offseason for this type of game, and their performance against the Broncos will be a good barometer for the return on that investment.

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