Balance In The Offense Is Key

Tuesday marked the beginning of mandatory mini-camp. And now we’re one step closer to the start of the season. One of the biggest questions for the upcoming season has been; what will the offense look like under Peyton Manning? The speculation has ranged from the possibility of Manning bringing over an offense just like he played with back in Indianapolis, to Manning taking the reins and creating a whole new offensive playbook. Fans may be expecting a pass heavy offense, but what could very possibly be in the works, is a balanced attack that will keep opposing defenses guessing.

“The running game is still going to be a top priority. I think Mike McCoy has addressed the team, and he’s really preaching balance, and trying to be three-dimensional, where on any down and distance, you can drop back, you can hand the ball off or you can run play-action. If the defense can be thinking about all three of those things, hopefully that gives the offense an advantage.” Manning said.

This is the biggest reason fans should be excited about the offense under Peyton Manning. Think back to last season, when Tim Tebow was in command of the offense. The Broncos were extremely one dimensional and teams picked up on it towards the end of the season. Where the offense will be much different this season, is defenses can’t stack the box with confidence the next play will be a run. What made the offense so predictable under Tebow, was even when there was a pass play, and the defense put eight men in the box, the gamble still paid off most the time because Tebow was not an effective passer.

That changes exponentially with Manning. Defenses can drop back predicting a pass, but then Manning will call a run. Teams can stack the box to stop the run, but Manning will throw over the defense.

“What you try to do is take what the defense is giving you. If they’re dropping a bunch of guys, you certainly hope you could run the ball. If they’re putting them all up in there and giving you one-on-one match-ups on the outside, you’ve got to be able to win those match-ups.” Manning said.

The test for this offense will be creating a formula for winning close games and shootouts

“I really feel that’s going to be important to have that balance, and you never know how a certain game is going to turn out,” Manning said. “If there’s going to be a shootout one game or if it’s one of those low-scoring games where you just keep pounding it on the ground … we hope we can play any type of game.”

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