We all have seen and commented innumerable times about the incredible Manning throw and Manningham catch. We’ve seen the replays, from all angles, innumerable times as well.
I do not recall seeing the Cruz and/or Nicks routes on the play via TV. This all said, I harken back to the Belichick admonishment on the sidelines:
“This is still a Cruz-and-Nicks game. I know we’re right on them. It’s tight, but those are still the guys. Make them go to Manningham, make them go to [Bear] Pascoe. Let’s make sure we get Cruz and Nicks.”
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So here’s what’s been rolling around the gray matter from time to time:
Normally in double coverage, you see either the underneath guy or the over the top guy close on the ball. In this case, it doesn’t APPEAR to be the case at all. What I saw (or thought I did) was absolute blanket coverage on MM.
So, despite BB’s directive, does that mean Cruz or Nicks were open, perhaps wide open, on the play?
Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks ran corner routes on the strong side, but they were well-covered. Manning did something the great quarterbacks do, using his eyes to freeze the safeties for a nanosecond. That opened the smallest of windows for him to throw to the back side, to throw to Manningham.
"It was Cover 2. Usually, that's not the matchup," Manning said, admitting that what he did went against the Quarterback Handbook.
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So, I am assuming here but it is the same thing. The Pats were probably in cover 2. There are a few ways to play cover 2 but one way is that the corner forces the WR in toward the field (away from the sideline) which means toward the safety. This helps out the safety meaning that safety has less area to cover. The corner depending on how aggressive the coverage is will ride the WR all the way to the safety. If there is nobody underneath that corner will keep riding. If a receiver threatens the area then either that or the actual throw will be the key for the corner to pass off the WR to the safety and jump the underneath route. I have no idea if there was an underneath route. I'd have to guess there wasn't.
As far as a the safeties responsibility goes, that depends. In that second clip they seem more focused on Cruz and Nick's so their responsibility seemed to be to take those guys away. However, a normal cover 2 will take away the deepest player from inside out. What I mean by the is in that second clip the safety's eyes are supposed to be on the number 2 WR from the sideline. If that receiver threatens you deep then that is your number one priority since that is an easier/shorter throw for the QB. You can start to drift a little towards that number 1 WR which was Manningham in that play. Once that number 2 WR breaks off his route (meaning not running) then that safety has to immediately get his ass over the top of the number 1 WR. Now, again, that is how you play it straight up. Belichick obviously threw his own wrinkle in there to take away Ctuz and Manningham hence why the safety jumped the inside route and left Manningham one on on deep. Manningham just didn't make the play.
Now, with me assuming again, that safety never budged on Manningham's throw so that tells me one of two things. One, maybe one of Nicks or Cruz was running deep down the seem to hold the safety deep and created just enough room for that ball to sneak in or, two, neither one of Cruz or Nicks were on that side of the field which makes that play even more amazing. Maybe one of them were in the slot on the other side of the formation and they were running a deep post from the other side of the field and the opposite safety was keying in on them.
A couple of more things. One, as a deep safety your job is to read inside out. The hard part comes when you get a route from the other side of the field. How often do you see a safety bite up on one side of the field because he has two short routes and then someone beats him deep that came from the other side of the field? That is where communication comes in. You have to trust the players around you. If someone crosses your face you have to communicate that to the other players. This goes for LBs too. We would always tell IN, IN, IN as our key but it can be anything. That let's that backside defenders know that there is some kind of crossing route such as a post, dig, drag, etc.
Two, there are different types of ways to play a cover 2. Earlier I said that defenders would force receivers in toward the safety for help. Well, when you start thinking about the Tampa 2 they would rely on a TE running down the middle of the field because that would be a huge weakness in a cover 2 defense. If the safeties both bail out wide then right down the middle of the field is wide open. So that is why a LB like Urlacher was so goo because he could play in the box but also run 40 yards downfield. Also, the corners could also be instructed to now force WRs toward the sidelines instead of toward the middle of the field. The positive to this is that you now use the sideline as your help, the safeties widen out immediately and the LB will take care of the middle of the field. The negative to this is in zone you want the defenders' eyes on the ball and receivers. The corners by forcing the receivers to the sidelines have to turn their backs to the ball. It also puts a lot of responsibility and area to cover on the MLB.
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I was praying the FS does not make it....ball coming, FS coming...feels like it was yesterday.
I would not say Manningham had double coverage....as FS was just playing deep and had a good jump on the play.
Cruz and Nicks seemed covered.... slotted by the LBers.
He's vintage Tiger Woods, bending an impossible five-iron around a tree. He's Greg Maddux living on the corners of the plate while dominating the National League with the Atlanta Braves. He's Brett Favre with better endings. Manning knew he wasn't supposed to throw that ball, but he had a pretty good idea he could hit that teeny, tiny spot, and that if he did Manningham could make the catch of his life. And as he was so often during the Giants' season-ending six-game winning streak, he was right.
This sums up Eli...and the thing that makes me angry is this article was written in 2012 and there should have been a lot more playoff games and possibly another Lombardi trophy if not for the incompetence of the Giants in building a team...
Good post...
Fast forward to that first play of the game winning drive. The same situation as before. Now this time Manning looks right and pulla deep left safety a couple of steps to the middle. Manningham continued on his streak even though the PATS had the kryptonite coverage (cover 2 over under) and Manning put the ball in the perfect location and Manningham made an awesome catch that took total concentration.
According to those who were there, he was wide open (we could not see how much from the TV) for a short while until Harrison closed real fast.
I was praying the FS does not make it....ball coming, FS coming...feels like it was yesterday.
I would not say Manningham had double coverage....as FS was just playing deep and had a good jump on the play.
Cruz and Nicks seemed covered.... slotted by the LBers.
Great post!
He was open but by the time the ball got there defenders got there. Eli threw that up to the moon. Tyree stood still the whole time. As he was standing there waiting for it Rodney Harrison came over.
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The play-by-play call of it says Tyree is wide open yet that's not the case when the ball gets there and I have never seen a different angle on that play from the one on the highlight vids. So how open was he?
He was open but by the time the ball got there defenders got there. Eli threw that up to the moon. Tyree stood still the whole time. As he was standing there waiting for it Rodney Harrison came over.
That was my understanding
I'm with you.
He wasn't wide open. That's a joke. Not even close. Look at the 17 second mark below. Rodney Harrison was right there with Tyree. You want to say Tyree was "open" - okay.
In regards ot his pass - as he was struggling through the rush - he broke free just at around the 38 yard line - losing his balance a bit and his momentum takes him to about the 33- he gathers for an instant and throws from about the 34 with rushers oncoming. That was about a 41 yard pass. That's like a "bomb," isn't it? So yeah there was air on the ball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxiHMIM4NWI