How the Colts Can Slow Peyton Manning and the Denver Passing Game

On paper, the Indianapolis Colts have some impressive performances from 2014. 

Not only did they shut down most poor offenses, but the Colts had a few strong showings against teams like Baltimore and Cincinnati. 

But what most people remember is the drubbings the defense took on national television, such as getting run over by Jonas Gray and the New England run game or getting lit up by Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown in Pittsburgh. 

Against teams with top-tier quarterbacks, the Colts were simply outmatched, unless you consider Joe Flacco a top quarterback. 

Now the Colts have a chance to erase some of those memories, with a road matchup against Peyton Manning and the Denver offense on Sunday. While the Denver offense has shifted to incorporate more running with C.J. Anderson over the last few weeks of the season, there is no questioning who the Denver offense runs through. 

Just ask Denver safety Rahim Moore, who called Manning the Broncos' "Bugatti" on Monday, per the Associated Press (h/t the Journal News). 

So, yes, the Colts need to keep Anderson in check. A balanced offense is the most dangerous thing for the Colts' defense, given their inability to pass rush without blitzing and frequent lapses in run defense. But Manning is the key here. 

Remember, despite having what many would call a down year, Manning still finished third in Football Outsiders' DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) and fifth in DYAR (Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement). The Denver offense was the third-most efficient offense in the league over the course of the season. 

But Manning is not infallible, as the last month of the season reminds us. 

Opponent	Att.	Comp.	Comp %	Yards	TD	INT	Rating	Y/A	AY/A
Buffalo	20	14	70.0%	173	0	2	56.9	8.7	4.2
San Diego	20	14	70.0%	233	1	0	125.6	11.7	12.7
Cincinnati	44	28	63.6%	311	2	4	61.8	7.1	3.9
Oakland	37	21	56.8%	273	0	0	80.1	7.4	7.4
Average	30	19	63.6%	248	0.75	1.5	76.8	8.2	6.5

It is possible to stop Manning, and the Colts actually are well aware, doing a good job of limiting him in the second half of their Week 1 loss earlier this season, as well as during the Colts' win over the Broncos in 2013.

The Colts simply don't have the personnel to completely stop Manning, there might not be a team outside of Seattle that does. But slow him down, steal a few series, and the Colts might just have a shot at advancing to the AFC championship. 

Pressuring Peyton

The biggest key to succeeding against any quarterback is to get pressure on him. 

Make a quarterback uncomfortable in the pocket, and errant throws and poor decisions will follow. It's not rocket science. 

Against Manning, this is paramount. 

Unfortunately for Indianapolis, this is a very difficult process. With Robert Mathis out for the season, the Colts have been without a great individual pass-rusher all season long. 

Fortunately for the Colts, the Indianapolis coaches have done an excellent job of scheming up pressure with their different blitzes and stunts. 

For example, against Denver in Week 1, the Colts rushed five on almost every play in their base defense, but they didn't always bring both of the two outside linebackers. On the play below, OLB Bjoern Werner dropped back to cover the running back in the flat while ILB Josh McNary attacked the space in the offensive line and got a pressure on Manning. 

NFL Game Rewind

The Colts use a variety of inside linebacker blitzes to make up for Mathis' loss, something I covered earlier in the season. Expect to see a lot of fire, robber and A-gap blitzes on Sunday. 

Disciplined Disguise

Now, if you're going to pressure Manning with blitzes, you have to disguise what you're doing before the snap on every play. 

Manning is the smartest player in the NFL (Just ask Peter King of Sports Illustrated), and so much of his excellence comes from figuring out the best matchup before the snap on every play. He's seen every bit of film on your defense, probably going back three years. He knows the tendencies, and he'll use every trick in the book at the line of scrimmage to force you to show your hand before he snaps the ball. 

In order to keep from giving Manning a leg up, defenses have to be very disciplined. Chuck Pagano talked about it with the media on Monday, per Colts.com. 

"

You try to make him work and earn his check on every down. He's been as good as it gets in the National Football League for a long, long time at running things from the line of scrimmage. He's going to try to get you to show your hand. He's going to gather as much intel before the snap as he can. You have to be very, very patient and do a great job with disguise. Even if he doesn't know, he kills you. But if he does know, he kills you even more, and faster. 

"

The Colts did that well in the second half of their Week 1 loss, rotating safeties both forward and backward from their pre-snap looks to switch back-and-forth between Cover 1 and Cover 2 looks and disguising blitz packages until the last second.

On this particular play, the Colts show an all-out blitz with the front seven (including the strong safety in a nickel defense), and Manning audibled to a quick one-read throw to Emmanuel Sanders on a quick out. But at the snap, the Colts dropped both inside linebackers, two down linemen and the safety. 

NFL Game Rewind

The play resulted in an incomplete pass as Manning's throw was too low for Sanders.

Not every blitz disguise has to be so involved, but the commitment to holding the look until the last second is paramount to keeping Manning off-balance.

This is something the Bengals did very well in Week 16, and Manning threw four interceptions as a result. While the Colts don't have quite the same overall defensive talent that Cincinnati does, they should be able to have limited success with those disguises. 

Clogging the Middle

The Colts' biggest issue with the Broncos and Manning in Week 1 was defending Julius Thomas at tight end, and it wasn't particularly close. 

Whether it was D'Qwell Jackson, Jerrell Freeman or LaRon Landry, nobody could matchup with the former basketball player in one-on-one coverage, which the Colts employed too often in the first half as Thomas scored three touchdowns in that September contest. 

Fortunately, the Colts adjusted well to Thomas in the second half, limiting him to two catches for 14 yards in the second half. As a result, the Denver offense scored just seven points in the second half, compared to 24 in the first.

One of the most important adjustments was how Indianapolis got physical with Thomas at the line of scrimmage. The Colts allowed a lot of free releases in the first half, but they had a linebacker or safety bump him at the line of scrimmage often in the second half. 

Take the play mentioned in the section above, for example. 

NFL Game Rewind

The Colts dropped so many players back at the snap for the purpose of clogging the middle of the field, giving Thomas very little room to work with. Landry was the one who bumped him initially, but there were four more players in Thomas' path if he was to keep working inside on the play. 

When Denver moved Thomas outside, the Colts would layer their coverage, keeping a safety over the top of him and often disguising their coverages. 

On this play, for example, they line Jerrell Freeman up across from him, but on the snap Freeman rotates to the inside zone while the cornerback and safety play the zones over the top. 

NFL Game Rewind

The Colts have the cornerbacks that can stick with the Broncos' talented receiving corps, for the most part. Both in 2013 and in Week 1 of 2014, both Vontae Davis and Greg Toler did a good job of making Manning's windows very small.

Considering Manning's age and weakened arm strength, the Colts should be able to trust their corners on the outside with minimal safety help, leaving them free to be creative with their coverages. Manning is still an elite quarterback, but he beats you in different ways.

If giving up the occasional play to the outside means keeping Manning from getting easy looks in the middle of the field, it will be well worth it.