FanPost

Mike McCoy vs Peyton Manning

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via www.montrealgazette.com


In the inevitable pointing of fingers after two losses there are a lot of candidates worthy of blame. So I would like to throw some more gasoline on the fire. The biggest negative theme in all three games to start the season is that Denver’s offense doesn’t start scoring until late. Funny, I thought the whole Peyton Manning thing was going to make everyone better, and we would be ahead early in games. That would allow the defense to use its strength of rushing to the passer. Well, the reality is that Peyton Manning only scores points in bunches when the offensive coordinator stops running that same offense he has been running the last four years. That coordinator would be Mike McCoy, the man with the creative aptitude of piece of dry wall. Straight, flat, and predictable. I know Mike McCoy is a methodical guy and wants to go through his offensive playbook to the T. That’s why he calls a run play up the middle on first down 70% of the time. He just has no creativity. Run up the middle. Quick out to a bubble screen. Force a pass to a comeback route on the sideline. Punt.

The offense even with Peyton Manning isn’t good early in games because everyone knows what’s coming. It doesn’t matter if Tim Tebow is playing, or Kyle Orton, or Superman. The predictability and out right blandness of the offensive play calling is horrendous. This same style of play calling that lead to a lot of much needed Tebow Time in the fourth quarter last year is the main culprit of Peyton Manning’s success and the Denver Broncos success as a whole this year.

Every team has holes and weaknesses. Goodness knows Denver could use a decent linebacker and safety. Chris Kuper being replaced by Ramirez has proved to be a steep cliff that leads to piles of sacks at the bottom. However, all of the deficiencies are OK because the point of having Peyton Manning on your team is that you get to play with an early lead. This forces the other team to be one dimensional and play catch up by passing. The defense gets to pin their ears back and all boats are raised.

Manning has been handcuffed by Mike McCoy and ultra conservative head coach John Fox. They got bit in the Atlanta game because of the early pick and then said basically that Peyton had to stop being Peyton. The problem with this is even though there was a bad stretch of INTs in one game early, the three and outs, and settling for field goals are just as dangerous.

Manning is who he is when he runs the no huddle. When that is taken away he is a mere mortal. He looks an a lot like an over the hill QB when he is running McCoy's plays in the early quarters of games. Then when Manning takes over and runs the offense points start racking up.

The bottom line is that Manning is a better offensive coordinator than this coaches and he needs to be free to do his job as an OC on the field. If McCoy is smart he should just step aside and wait for his token head coaching job at the end of the season.

Here are some fun stats from the Texans game.

Avg yards per run play on 1st down

3.50

Avg yards per pass play on 1st down

7.14

Play Calling on 1st down

1st Qtr

2nd Qtr

3rd Qtr

4th Qtr

Total

# of plays on 1st Down

9

8

6

11

34

Runs

5

2

3

2

12

Pass

4

6

3

9

22

Percentage Run

56%

25%

50%

18%

Yards on Runs

21

5

1

15

42

Yards on Passes

56

25

13

63

157

Drives

Last 1st down Ended Total Plays
Drive
1 Pass Punt 5
2 Run FG 10
3 Run Punt 9
4 Run Punt 4
5 Pass FG 9
6 Pass Punt 4
7 (end of half) Pass FG 5
8 Run Punt 4
9 Run Punt 8
10 Run Punt 4
11 (No Huddle) Pass Punt 8
12 ( No Huddle) Pass TD 2
13 (No Huddle) Run TD 18

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.