ShareThisFOXBORO, Mass. - There is one question that all coaches and defensive coordinators ask themselves when facing the Indianapolis Colts: How do you stop Peyton Manning?
The New England Patriots are asking themselves that very same question this week.
Everyone tries, but few teams actually do it.
The Cincinnati Bengals did last week, holding Manning to 20-for-36 for 185 yards -- his lowest total in nearly two years -- and no touchdowns. But Indy still won thanks to five Cincy turnovers.
They followed Philadelphia's blitz-heavy game plan. Two weeks ago, the blitzing Eagles sacked Manning three times and he threw two interceptions.
You can bet the Patriots have been studying those game tapes this week in hopes of slowing down Manning.
According to the Patriots, their three-fold strategy will be to confuse Manning at the line of scrimmage by disguising their defense, attack him when they can and play tight coverage on their receivers and tight ends.
DISGUISING THE DEFENSE
The Patriots expect Manning to come to the line of scrimmage with at least 20 seconds remaining on the play clock like he usually does.
They expect him to use a lot of hand signals and call out plays, fully knowing that sometimes a play has already been called and Manning is just trying to confuse the defense while studying the formation that the defense lines up in.
Therefore, the Patriots will shift around a lot of their players at the line of scrimmage and not get set until they absolutely have to so Manning can't easily read their defensive formation.
"You kind of show him the same thing every play no matter what and hopefully you get into what you're going to do late," said Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo.
"He's a tough quarterback to try to confuse," said fellow linebacker Tully Banta-Cain. "He'll confuse you more than you confuse him. He's a guy that you try to do your best to disguise stuff and things like that but he's really good at what he does in picking out coverages."
If Manning can't identify the Patriots' coverage and/or if they're blitzing, then the advantage goes to the Patriots defense. But if Manning can identify what the Patriots are doing during his pre-snap reads, then it could be a long day for New England's defense.
"We have to be good in our disguise and things like that and try to trick him basically," Mayo said. "He's a good quarterback. He has a great arm and can make all of the throws. It's very difficult (to trick him). He studies a lot of film ..."
ATTACK MANNING WHEN POSSIBLE
Few teams have had success getting to Manning throughout his career. In his 13-year career, Manning has been sacked more than 20 times in only four seasons.
He's been sacked 12 times this year, the lowest sack total among quarterbacks with more than 200 pass attempts.
"You have to give his line credit," said Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich. "He's always had a good offensive line and then he knows when to get the ball out. Anytime that he's got pressure, you always see him throwing the ball off to the open receiver because he knows who is going to be open almost every route that is being run. He can go through his progression quickly and throw the ball to somebody who is open."
The danger in attacking Manning is that if the Patriots rush more than four players, somebody is going to have single coverage. And Manning will likely find that player.
"He reads coverages so well," Mayo said. "He pretty much knows what you're running pre-snap and he's just a great player."
"This is a week where they're a passing team so coverage is key and not letting them know what we're doing is key to so it's something we always work on no matter who we're playing," said Banta-Cain. "This week we definitely have to do a good job of it."
The Patriots only have 18 sacks this year (ranked 19th), but they're coming off their best sack performance of the season (5) against Pittsburgh. They blitzed the Steelers a season-high 22 times and Manning hasn't been at his best against the blitz this year. He's completing just 59.8 percent of his pass attempts when teams blitz with an 88.8 passer rating and has been sacked seven times.
That's his lowest completion percentage and passer rating against pressure since 2003 (59.3 and 80.5), according to Stats LLC.
PLAY TIGHT COVERAGE
The Patriots defense would like to play in tight coverage every week, but that hasn't happened. New England's defense is allowing opposing quarterbacks to throw for 277.8 yards per game (ranked 30th).
And just because two of Manning's favorite targets, tight end Dallas Clark and receiver Anthony Gonzalez are out for the year, running backs Joseph Addai (missed last three games) and Mike Hart (missed last two games) are banged up and so is Indy's second leading receiver Austin Collie (missed two of the last three games), that doesn't mean Manning won't play well.
Despite all of the injuries, Manning has still thrown for the third-most yards this year (2,663). He's averaging 295.9 passing yards per game and the Colts have the fourth-ranked offense (379.3 yards per game).
Patriots cornerbacks Devin McCourty and Kyle Arrington will be tasked with trying to contain Indy's top two receivers, Reggie Wayne and Collie. Safeties Patrick Chung, Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders are also expected to play a big role for New England's secondary on Sunday.
If the Patriots can do a good job disguising their defense, rush his throws and play solid coverage in the secondary then they'll have a good chance to win.
(Contact Robert Lee at roblee(at)projo.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Providence Journal
