Collin does a very nice job with this.
It’s also been suggested that Manning should have never thrown this ball, that he led Collie into the collision, but I just don’t see that. It’s a great throw. Collie beats the corner and the safety is well over top, Manning puts the ball low where only Collie can make a play on it and where Collie can quickly get down to avoid a big hit and continue the drive. I think Manning does misjudge the speed at which Smith is coming in, but it’s unrealistic to expect Manning to calculate that. He correctly made a read on the corner and safety and put the ball in a good place for Collie to make a catch and get down. Smith makes an outstanding individual effort to peel off his zone and display defensive back speed as a linebacker. If Smith doesn’t get there, it’s a clean catch. Even if Smith gets there and doesn’t have the awkward meeting with Collie as Collie is going down, it’s probably a catch and a smack or an incomplete pass.
But I really don’t think Manning leads Collie into anything. Collie had almost caught the ball when he was hit, and usually when a QB leads a WR into a hit, he places a ball in a position where the receiver can either be sandwiched by a corner and a safety or otherwise is forced to take a head-on collision with a defensive back charging over top. Here, Manning just makes an incredibly difficult throw that should theoretically put Collie in good position to make a catch and go down. It just doesn’t end that way, because that’s the way this season has gone.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
