How to Read Defenses Like Peyton Manning

Watching Peyton Manning before the snap of the football, a person would think he has lost his composure with all the yelling, pointing and movement. In reality, there is method to his madness. Peyton Manning is using this frenzied activity to read the defense like an open book. Every reaction to his action tells him something he needs to know to read the defense.

Instructions

    • 1

      Use player movement to determine what coverage the defense is playing. If you want to read defenses like Peyton Manning, it is imperative that you move the receivers to discern what the coverage is on a given play. Every time an offensive player shifts position, the defense reacts to that motion. Peyton Manning uses this movement by the defense to gauge the coverage responsibilities of the defenders and then he adjusts the play call accordingly.

    • 2

      Take compulsive notes after each game to determine what caused a play to succeed or fail. Peyton Manning compiles 40 pages of notes each week concerning the prior week's game. He then refers to those notes when he plays that team again or in practice to help him read defenses better. In fact, he is so serious about this note taking that he stores the notebooks in a safe, away from prying eyes.

    • 3

      Make dummy calls to confuse the defenses. A dummy call is for defenses that may be so familiar with a quarterbacks play calling that they know what play is coming by what Peyton Manning says prior to snapping the football. The dummy call uses this familiarity against the defense. Peyton Manning will make a hand gesture or foot movement to alert teammates that the call is a fake. The gesture will also indicate what the real play call is.

    • 4

      Utilize the no-huddle offense to deter the defense from substituting players and to make the defense easier to read. Defenses want to play certain players for a given situation but the no-huddle offense make this all but impossible because the offense can the snap the football at any time. For instance, on an obvious passing down, the defense may want to substitute more defensive backs to defend the pass. However, Peyton Manning uses the no-huddle offense to stop this and in essence dictates which players the defense can have on the field.