Peyton Manning broke down Tom Brady’s AFC Championship performance for ESPN
Manning also rated Rams quarterback Jared Goff.
ATLANTA — Retired quarterback Peyton Manning has lots of praise for his former AFC playoff foe.
In a recent episode of “Detail” on ESPN+, Manning dissected the Patriots’ conference championship victory over the Kansas City Chiefs and dished out plenty of compliments for quarterback Tom Brady along the way. Among the areas he applauded were Brady’s poise in handling the rowdy crowd at Arrowhead Stadium, his under-center three-step drops, and his communication with center David Andrews.
One play in particular that caught Manning’s attention was on a 3rd-and-7 in the second quarter. As Manning saw it, Brady thought about rushing for the first down but ended up backing out when he saw a linebacker fill the briefly open hole. Brady instead audibled in the middle of the play to hit running back James White for the conversion.
“Yo, he turned back like, ‘Oh!” said safety Devin McCourty on the sidelines. “Sweet Feet [White’s nickname] or Sweet Hands?”
Manning also highlighted a few of New England’s schemes, including their use of wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson as a running back and their use of the fullback position. He mentioned a handful of plays in which fullback James Develin was wide open but the Patriots still didn’t go to him, utilizing him more as a decoy to control the defense and open up opportunities for other players.
“When you have a fullback in there, it makes the defense stay pretty vanilla and stay in their basic personnel,” Manning said. “You’re not going to have multiple defensive backs.”
Manning seemed to empathize with Brady on his fourth-quarter interception that was nullified by a penalty. Through Manning’s eyes, Brady wanted to deliver the ball downfield, so when he had to settle for a shorter pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski, his frustration caused him to put a little too much juice on the throw.
“I’ve done it before,” Manning said. “Where you throw that layoff or that checkdown a little bit harder because you’re mad you didn’t get the ball downfield.”
The respect is mutual between the two future Hall of Famers. At Super Bowl Opening Night Monday evening, Brady commended Manning for his incredible 17-year career, calling him “someone [he’s] always looked up to.” As the No. 199 pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, Brady noted Manning had it “a lot harder” as the top pick in 1998.
“I think he always had some much pressure always,” Brady said. “Best player coming out of high school, best player coming out of college, and then proved to be the best player in the NFL for so many years. I just respect that so much because that comes with a lot of responsibility — a lot of burden — and I learned a lot from him over the years.”
In another episode of “Detail,” Manning also broke down the conference championship performance of Brady’s upcoming opponent: Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff. Like he did with Brady, Manning shouted out Goff and the Rams’ ability to handle the crowd in New Orleans, noting that the noise can increase a player’s workload.
“I guarantee you Jared and these offensive linemen were emotionally drained after this game because of all of the effort and energy that goes into just communicating the snap count before the actual ball is snapped and the play is even run,” Manning said.
Against the Saints, Goff struggled in the first half but turned things around for a second-half comeback and overtime victory. Manning pinpointed his deep sideline throws as one of his biggest strengths that helped propel the Rams to the win, as well as his ability to stay calm. Manning also gave a lot of credit to coach Sean McVay’s play-calling.
