| 03 October 2009
Preparing to face quarterbacks like Peyton Manning takes a special degree of planning. At the very least, a slight shift in the gameplan may be necessary.
To counter the tricks Manning is going to have up his sleeve at the line of scrimmage, Jim Mora has implemented the addition of wristbands for the defense. The purpose of having the wristbands is so defensive co-captain Lofa Tatupu can accurately call out a coverage scheme before the snap and not have Manning pick up on it.
“Here’s the thing: Peyton Manning presents unique problems, in that he is so intelligent and he accumulates so much knowledge throughout a game, that the less that we communicate verbally as a defense, the less cues we’ll give him to what we’re doing,” head coach Jim Mora said.
So, Mora continued, the approach they're taking on defense this weekend will be largely nonverbal. Lofa will call one of 40 plays off the wristband, keeping the audio level to a bare minimum. It's an approach Mora has had some experience with in the past, but certainly not to this extent. But when you're leading an injury-riddled squad into battle against an unbeaten team in one of the hardest places to play in the NFL, it's appropriate to pull out the stops and do something drastic. The very thought of walking out of there victorious depends on it.
“It’s not every quarterback who has his grasp for the game,” Tatupu said. “So if you had just one guy tell everybody what we’re in, eventually Peyton would pick up on the code word. It will be interesting. We’ll see how it works.”
Of course, the natural question linger, such as "What if the wristband approach becomes confusing and against the defense's instincts?" and "What if Manning cracks the code?" It could be somewhat counterintuitive for some players, but they've learned enough new tricks in the past several months that adding one more shouldn't be a huge concern.
But as far as Manning cracking the code?
“If he can remember 40 of our calls and all their playbook, and know them at the line, then kudos to him,” DE Patrick Kerney said. “If that happens, then they’ve got an Einstein brain in there.”
The Colts may have the closest thing to football Einstein under center, but let's hope Tatupu can lead this defense to containing him.
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