Peyton Manning fell to 9-11 in the playoffs after Saturday’s loss.(Photo: Chris Humphreys, USA TODAY Sports)
Tenets that fall into the “unwritten rules” category naturally lend themselves to being tested. After all, cardinal sins are actually worth documenting, right?
Perhaps that’s why Peyton Manning (again) violated conventional wisdom Saturday before watching his Denver Broncos pay the ultimate price for his miscue in their 38-35 double overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
First, flash back to Week 10, when Manning was mic’d up for NFL Network’s Sound FX.
In the first quarter of a game at the Carolina Panthers, he rolled right out of the pocket, scanned the field, then threw across his body to longtime safety valve Brandon Stokley. A virtually uncovered Stokley jogged into the end zone untouched for a 10-yard TD.
“That’s the old rule No. 1 you never do,” Manning tells Stokley as they jog together off the field, knowing passers at every level of football are coached not to throw across their body back toward the middle of the field. “When you’re in your 15th year, you kinda say, ‘Who gives a (expletive)?'”
Nope, Brett Favre’s not the only one who occasionally suffers from football hubris.
And there was Manning, throwing caution to the wind again yesterday on a play that looked eerily similar … except that it was in overtime of a playoff game, Manning was operating from his own 38, and Baltimore’s Corey Graham had much better coverage on Stokley than the Panthers did two months ago.
After being flushed from the pocket, Manning again fired across his body toward his most trusted target. But the football gods made him pay and rewarded Graham with the ill-advised interception that set up Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal six plays later.
“Bad throw. Probably the decision (wasn’t) great either,” Manning said afterward. “I thought I had an opening, and I didn’t get enough on it, and I was trying to make a play and certainly a throw I’d like to have back.”
Obviously, Manning gives a … well, you know what. But whether you’re a 15-year legend with four MVP awards or not, sometimes it’s patently obvious why you’d better adhere to “the old rule No. 1.”
