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Brent's picture

Much was made at the start of this season about Peyton's arm strength being so much better than last year. What they didn't bother to mention was that yes, 75 is better than 50, but 75 still isn't 100. Have you looked at the way the ball comes out of his hand? I'm not saying I can throw a better spiral, because I can't and never could. But for all the offensive numbers he's put up this year he is not the same as he once was. There is a lot more wobble on his throws, which with the usual wind at MetLife Stadium will mean under, over, or where was that supposed to be going throws. If the Broncos are going into the wind, the ball isn't going deep. The Broncos have made a ton of yards, first downs, and touchdown on short passes that turned into longer gains because the opposition was playing zone defense, which Peyton has always been able to exploit, and yards after the catch due to poor positioning and/or poor tackling. Seattle doesn't have that problem. They play press-man coverage on the wide-outs AND the tight-end, tackle well, and have team speed across the board that Denver hasn't seen. Seattle played more zone than normal against SF so they wouldn't have to turn their backs on Kaepernick and have him take off down the field. Not going to have that problem with Manning. He's a statue. The bigger question than the secondary is the defensive line. Manning didn't need to wash his jersey this week, because the Patriots pass rush never even got into the same zip code. He had a clean pocket to survey the field for however long he needed. If they can do the same against Seattle then it's going to be a very long day. Denver will likely go no huddle so Seattle can't substitute along the defensive line like they are accustomed to doing. But if Seattle disrupts his timing by jamming the receivers at the line so the ball doesn't come out on rhythm, allowing the defensive line that extra half-second to make him move his feet and throw off balance, then Manning doesn't have the arm strength any more to throw it into tight coverage. He's the crafty veteran pitcher who has lost 6 or 8 MPH off his fastball - he can't just blow it by you up in the zone. That extra fraction of a second, combined with the length, wingspan and speed of Seattle's secondary means fewer completions and more interceptions. And incomplete passes means we can substitute like we want to. If the weather turns bad, that's even better for us. Bring on the cold and wind!

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