Keys to Greatness: How Percy Harvin Owned the Denver Broncos in Week 13

Percy Harvin has been holding his own despite little to no help for some time. For a while, he had Sidney Rice, but Rice got hurt a lot and left for the Seahawks, which left Harvin with nobody to pull coverage away from him in the offense.

That really didn't hurt him all that much last year. Really, if anything held him back, it was some of the worst play from the quarterback position since Todd Marinovich in the form of Donovan McNabb.

If you look at most of the games AD (After Donovan), Harvin's numbers look OK. He had some down games, but overall, he played well and consistently for most of the second half of the season.

He did it with very little help.

The Week 13 game against the Denver Broncos, while a loss for the team, was a great example of what Harvin is capable of.

It helped that Devin Aromashodu actually had a good game (six catches for 90 yards), and Toby Gerhart moved the ball well on the ground.

So it was harder to focus on just Harvin. The Bronco corners are OK overall, and the strength of the defense was the front seven—especially Elvis Dumervil and rookie Von Miller. Miller did not play, so it was much easier to contain Dumervil, though he still got a sack and a pair of quarterback hits.

Some of it was missing Miller, some of Harvin's success was his talent—and some of it was just the wrong call at the wrong time.

Harvin's 48-yard catch and run touchdown in the fourth is a perfect example of the last one, so let's start there.

The play was a simple crossing route for Harvin designed to counter a blitz and gain a few yards. It was second down and 10 yards, the previous pass having been batted down by former Eagle Brian Dawkins.

It was getting a bit hot for Ponder, so they called a short dump, hoping to catch a few yards with the Broncos trying to press their advantage.

They got much more than that.

Harvin is to the right of quarterback Christian Ponder; not too far, though, as the Vikings were in a bunched formation. The Broncos were overloaded on their right side, looking very much as if they were going to blitz, which they did.

As Ponder dropped back, Harvin ran about two yards and then dragged across the middle. Looking at the screencap, you can tell there are no Broncos there—the vast majority were blitzing.

One of the linebackers bit on Gerhart heading out to the right, while the other two defenders next to him went out with Vikings going out on deeper routes.

The result was Harvin completely wide open on his little dump route.

Ponder immediately hits Harvin with a short pass, which Harvin reels in before turning upfield.

Again, at this point, it looks as if he might get a first down—at worst, he should give them a very manageable third down.

However, note fullback Ryan D'Imperio at the 40 yard line.

As you can see in the cap, D'Imperio throws a tremendous block on Champ Bailey, releasing Harvin down the sideline.

Strong safety Kyle McCarthy has a shot at Harvin, but the Vikings wide receiver puts a little move on him, which leaves the safety grasping for air.

The last obstacle (cornerback Andre Goodman) is delayed by tight end Kyle Rudolph long enough for Harvin to outrace him to the end zone.

It's a textbook combination of what happens when you blitz at the wrong time and the offense executes perfectly. Don't get me wrong, it'd been working. But as the announcer said—you live by the blitz, you die by the blitz.

This time, it didn't work, and it was compounded by two great blocks and a nice move by Harvin.

It's also worth looking at the simple plays Harvin executed well, such as an 18-yard reception in the first quarter. (By the way, I apologize in advance for the dubious quality of the caps from here on out—Game Rewind's quality just fell off a cliff.)

Harvin lines up inside, one-on-one. You can already see the linebackers cheating up again—the middle of the field will be open, and with the safety once again deep, there is a huge hole in the intermediate area.

As Harvin comes off the line, the linebackers do indeed start to move towards the quarterback, though one of them hesitates a bit. While running his route (which will shortly slant in), Harvin has already gotten inside of his coverage, putting himself between Ponder and the defender.

Ponder's throw is a bit low; otherwise, Harvin might have stayed on his feet and had a bigger gain. As it stands, though, Ponder put the ball where only his receiver can reach it, and Harvin makes a nice catch.

It's the little things which stand out about Harvin in this game, not just the athleticism and speed. He shows great route running and the ability to get position on defensive backs both before and after the catch. Getting between the quarterback and the defender just makes his quarterback's job easier.

That the team blocked so well on that one touchdown was impressive, and if they can do more of that, it's going to make a huge difference.

He also ran the ball pretty well against Denver, and that's an aspect of his game which we will continue to see quite a bit of.

This offseason has seen the addition of several new faces on offense at the skill positions. John Carlson at tight end, Jerome Simpson and the rookies Greg Childs and Jarius Wright at wide receiver.

The hope is that they will help give Harvin even more wide open looks like these.

If they can do that, then Harvin can do this every Sunday.

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