Legion of Blue'm: Colts Follow Seahawks Blueprint in Win

According to Indianapolis Colts cornerback Vontae Davis, his defense used a blueprint previously deployed by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII to beat Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos on Sunday:

"“Seattle gave us the blueprint in the Super Bowl,” Davis said, per the Indianapolis Star. “What we did was similar to what Seattle did, as far as taking their receivers away.”"

What they did was use their cornerbacks in press coverage against the Broncos receivers, asking them be physical near the line of scrimmage to “beat them up“. Having their linebackers and safeties then “clog the middle” of the field, they forced Manning to either beat them deep outside or make difficult sideline throws into tight windows with his diminished arm strength.

A clearly not quite right Peyton Manning couldn’t consistently make those tough throws. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Manning was just 6 of 21 (or 29%) on throws more than 5 yards down field. Consequently, the Colts defense successfuly held the Broncos defense to just 1 touchdown and 13 total offensive points on Sunday in what was a dominant performance:

"“We were able to put the game on Peyton Manning,” Colts defensive lineman Ricky Jean-Francois said per ESPN. “You never know Peyton to overthrow guys, he usually puts the ball right on the numbers and when he kept overthrowing it, we knew we had him. We kept saying that’s blood in the water.”"

It was a testament to Colts’ defensive coordinator Greg Manusky‘s brilliant gameplan to keep a potent Broncos’ offense under wraps. Of course, it’s a strategy that the Colts defense had previously used in their Week 7 win in 2013 against Denver, but weren’t as successful in utilizing in this year’s Week 1 loss to the Broncos.

Legion of Blue’m: Colts Follow Seahawks Blueprint in Win

By Luke Schultheis | Jan 12, 2015