Super Bowl XLVIII is shaping up to be a battle featuring Peyton Manning’s old-school, rocket-armed pocket passing and Russell Wilson’s new-age scrambling and athleticism.
The game will be much more than a matchup between the two top seeds in the NFL playoffs. It will be a referendum of sorts on the direction of quarterbacking in the league. The two passers in this Sunday’s game, so different in style and age, represent the two, radically-different ways the league’s most important position is moving toward.
It’s important to note two things: Both quarterbacks are at the top of their respective games right now and yet neither of them is perfect. Each one has certain strengths to play to and also weaknesses to be exploited.
Here’s a look under the hood of the most important position on each side of this year’s Super Bowl.
Manning (elite pocket-passer)
The league’s quarterbacking savant has made a career out of preparation and development. There’s no one who’s ever been more intelligent under center, and there’s been no better set of eyes.
Manning is the ultimate quarterback. He reads defensive tendencies like a book and can adjust his entire plan on the fly to best exploit the weaknesses he sees. While the attention recently has been focused on his usage of “Omaha” as an audible call, everyone is missing the boat.
Those “Omaha” calls represent Manning doing what sets him apart from everyone else: adjusting each play to fit the situation. Adam Gase is the latest offensive coordinator to look very intelligent while working with Manning. While Gase is very good and deserving of the attention from teams with head coaching opportunities, it really is Manning that runs the show.
No quarterback in the NFL has more power vested in him on the field. No quarterback is as trusted with the final call on what will happen when the ball reaches his hands.
Manning’s greatest strength is his ability to put his offense—and all of its individual pieces—in the best position possible for winning each play.
The Seattle Seahawks might have the best defense in the NFL, but they haven’t faced a quarterback like Manning. Colin Kaepernick’s wild throws in the NFC Championship are just the kind of plays that Manning will avoid. He’s a surgeon on the field. Wielding a football and a set of diverse receivers like a scalpel, he carves up opponents, and doesn’t make many mistakes.
Manning’s accuracy is unmatched and his production does not wane. Even Seattle’s Legion of Boom will have a difficult time stopping Manning. Even worse, they must also stop an often-overlooked strength of Manning’s overall game: his ability to utilize his weapons in the passing game at the perfect time. He can recognize a blown coverage and strike at any moment’s notice.
Wilson (elusive, smart, dual-threat QB)
Wilson may not look like he’s old enough to vote, but he has already accomplished things in the NFL that are the envy of every quarterback-needy team—many of which decided his size and skill set did not fit their system or translate well to the pro level.
Wilson is the anti-Manning. The Seahawks are a run-first team and he’s more of a game manager than Manning—doesn’t turn the football over or take chances throwing into coverage. And he doesn’t beat teams with his arm alone. He’s equally dangerous whether he’s firing a deep ball with surprising zip or running around the edge and heading for the sticks. What he lacks in polish he makes up for with incredible elusiveness and savvy play.
Like his opponent this weekend, Wilson has an uncanny ability to put his skill players in a position to make plays. Doug Baldwin’s deep TD catch in the NFC Championship was the perfect example. A broken play turned into an momentum-grabbing success simply because of the guy throwing the football was able to keep the play alive.
The most exciting thing about Wilson is that, unlike many quarterbacks, he can make something out of nothing. The most notable of them, Percy Harvin, has barely made a cameo appearance this season. Unlike Manning, he’s not blessed with Pro Bowl-caliber guys all around him. He’s had to make his own success.
While both quarterbacks get desired results in vastly different ways, they are very similar in that they both have made the players around them better.
Wilson’s best attribute is his ability to buy time behind a line that doesn’t protect him with much consistency. He doesn’t require the excellent protection Manning does because he can avoid even the speediest rushers.
Nobody’s perfect
No matter how successful both Wilson and Manning have been, each has weaknesses that must be overcome if they are going to hoist the Lombardi trophy as confetti falls from the chilly New York sky late Sunday night.
Wilson must prove that he can be accurate both from the pocket and on the run. His sometimes-erratic accuracy will do him in if he tests the Broncos secondary. He’s not facing a defense the caliber of San Francisco’s, but he is still facing a defense that can make big plays.
Manning will have to prove that he and his offensive line can best Seattle’s fierce pass rush. Wilson’s strength is Manning’s kryptonite. He can’t run from trouble. His offensive line has been a stalwart bunch all year despite the absence of Ryan Clady. They face their biggest test in this game in Seattle’s frightening front seven.
Wilson may have to take over the game and make plays, something he didn’t have to do to get to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks have been consistently able to lean on running back Marshawn Lynch to gobble up both time and yardage. But Denver was able to take away a stunning New England rushing attack in the AFC Championship. Wilson is no Tom Brady, but if Lynch is neutralized he will have to prove he can succeed where Brady could not.
Manning’s receivers haven’t dealt with a secondary like Seattle’s before either. Manning depends on his receivers being able to get open. Seattle’s ability to blanket the intermediate and deep routes will give Manning fits unless he can use his brain to find the openings. Manning can make mistakes and may trust his reads too much, something he will have to avoid. There’s no room for second guessing in the NFL, but there’s also no room for mistakes in the Super Bowl.
Last year, the matchup between Flacco and Kaepernick was a similar old-school vs. new-school game in which the old-school Flacco barely prevailed.
This year, the stakes feel much higher. Manning is fighting his mostly-unfair legacy as a purported playoff choker with a career .500 record. Wilson is trying to prove he belongs on the same field as a guy who just rewrote the record book this season.
For Manning, it comes down to his intelligence and being able to trump Seattle’s aggressiveness by reading the defense. For Wilson, it will be whether his athleticism will allow him to take over the game in a way he has yet to do.
It’s going to be a matchup for the ages. And whether the pocket-passing Manning or the speedy, elusive Wilson prevails, we should be treated to a great game.
