The internet can be a wonderful thing. It is a massive junk drawer of articles, videos, goof-sites, facts, stats, box scores, and a jillion other things - all available, in theory, at the click of a Google search.
Well, that's the theory, at least.
In advance of next week's Super Bowl, I was desperately looking for an ESPN The Magazine article that chronicled in awesomely minute detail, all the pre-snap shit Peyton Manning goes through in order to make a routine TD pass, look, well, routine.
For him, at least.
I think - THINK - I have narrowed it down to the following....
"Trust Me On This"
By Seth Wickersham
it is allegedly in the December 20, 2004 issue of ESPN the Magazine with the "ESPN 100" on the cover.
I have found this link already, but every time I find it, I get a 404 File Not Found error message.
This is driving me NUTS!!!
The article was the best I have ever seen on the subject, and I was hoping you may remember it as well. If only ESPN did a good job of archiving and saving this stuff, we'd find it easier to ... um... find.
If I recall, they used a two-page photo spread of the Colts vs. Broncos at various points before and after the snap. Boxes of text described how Manning read the defense both pre-snap, and after, and how his receiver made the adjustments as well.
I am ringing a bell here? Anybody? Bueller?
Hell, maybe the article was in Sports Illustrated. Or Good Housekeeping. Maybe I have several other facts wrong.
But dammit, this article exists!!
If you know what I am talking about, and if you know where you can read it on the web, and if you want to help a brother out so I can then SHARE IT with everyone else, then I would be eternally grateful.
And collectively, we would be resurrecting a piece of "must read" sports intel just before the big game, just in case somebody says: "I think most of that crap Manning does it just for show."
Some of it, sure. But alot of it is not for show. It is the workings of a QB Super Computer whirring away, the likes of which we have never seen before in the modern NFL.
www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/colts/2006-09-13-sw-peyton-manning_x.htm
ReplyDeletei do remember reading an article in either espn the mag or sports illustrated as well though
no, you're thinking of the 1997 Sports Illustrated article detailing how Brett Favre scored that first drive touch down against the Patriots in the Superbowl. Pretty compelling stuff how he read the Tuna's defense.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe article is titled "6 Crazy Seconds" by Seth Wickersham and David Flemming. And yes, it was from ESPN The Mag
ReplyDeleteShould also note the Bob and Brian saved that segment of you reading the article on their clip part of their site...if you wanted to link a verbal version of it to the site here...
ReplyDeleteThanks Casey! If somebody could find that article on the web, I would really, really, really love to post it. But at least I now have a good handle on it.
ReplyDeleteCzabe, Sometimes if you can Google the article and Google finds it, even if it doesn't exist Google sometimes caches the page from the last time the web crawler found it. In Google there will be a link under the search called "cached" you can click on. You might be able to at least get something.
ReplyDeletethe photos (sans captions):
ReplyDeletehttp://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n80/artoftroy/ESPN%206%20Crazy%20Seconds/
It is from the 12/4/2006 issue of ESPN Magazine. I was not able to get a link, either thus far.
The Article was entitled "6 Crazy Seconds" you read it on the air and it is a podcast from the Bob & Brian Show.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteI found the magazine on Ebay here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ESPN-MAGAZINE-DECEMBER-4-2006_W0QQitemZ250372278470QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMagazines?hash=item3a4b59c8c6
it's $2.49!
czabe:
ReplyDeleteCall the cops! Gottlieb on the Four Letter is completely ripping off This Might Be a Dumb Question, calling it "I've Always Wondered."
Make him stop.
JML
http://www.1029thehog.com/Bob---Brian-On-Demand---Podcast/2560707
ReplyDeleteArchive 1/26/2007
You can read the pre-snap routine of Peyton Manning here:
ReplyDeleteIt begins with him calling a group of three plays in the huddle and is always two passes and one run. When his offense walks up to the line of scrimmage and prepares to get set, he waits for the defense to tip him off to the blitz package that they are about to run. This is the critical time when he makes adjustments to the predetermined protection scheme of his offensive line. All of this takes place in 10-15 seconds. Next, Manning...
www.helium.com/items/198611-peyton-manning-in-the-2007-super-bowl