CloakNNNdagger
Hall of Fame
If you watch him closely, you can’t help but see that Peyton Manning is having difficulties with his throws. There are specific patterns that I have noticed watching and reviewing his play since the preseason. His passes to the right half of the field are, for the most part, weak and/or inaccurate. These observations have been consistent and predictable. Why predictable? If you followed my posts last year, you will remember that I explained that C7, the nerve involved in the disc problem that led to his surgeries, innervates the triceps muscle. This is the muscle which accounts for the extension of his elbow in the throwing motion. But what other muscle is innervated by C7?..........The major portion of the pectoralis major muscle. Why is this important? The pectoralis major muscle is one of the strongest muscles in the body. And it gives POWER to the throwing motion.
Go through the motion of pretending that you are throwing a football straight forward, while feeling your pectoralis. You will feel it contract as it strongly assists the upper arm moving forward and inward towards the chest. When you then throw across your chest to the left you will be able to obtain maximum force to the throw in that you receive maximum contribution from the pectoralis. When a throw is made to the right, the pectoralis contributes little to the power of the throw.
If you watched Manning last game, it was painfully obvious that any successful passes to the right were short and low. And in some of those, in order to compensate, he turned his whole body to his target so that it would be more equivalent to a straight ahead throw (using the assist of the pectoralis). All three of his interceptions came when he attempted intermediate passes to the right side of the field while facing the middle of the field. Those passes and others floated and/or were inaccurate. Remember, accuracy especially with longer passes require adequate power. Power or the lack thereof affects accuracy. The less power behind your throw, the less likely a longer throw will be delivered accurately and the more likely you will lose form and inappropriately overuse the core muscles in desperate attempt for additional forward power. This last game, Peyton’s greatest success was with throws across his body to the left side of the field as in the case of his sole TD pass.
[As an aside, C7 also innervates the latissimus dorsi muscle which can to a much lesser degree contribute to a forward pass.]
Keeping all of this in mind, a defense strategy that could serve Wade well would be to place maximum pass rush pressure to Peytons right and force him to the left of his back field. This way it would significantly lessen his chances of going to the right side with his passes and encourage him to focus mostly on the left side of the field. At the same time, Wade could concentrate his secondary’s attention to the left awaiting those passes. If Peyton chooses to still throw from his exaggerated left backfield position to the right side of the field, his throws would be that much weaker and more inaccurate, making them less likely to be completed and ripe for the pick. Forcing Peyton to pass to his right could be the Texans' path this Sunday to driving him to his Waterloo.
Go through the motion of pretending that you are throwing a football straight forward, while feeling your pectoralis. You will feel it contract as it strongly assists the upper arm moving forward and inward towards the chest. When you then throw across your chest to the left you will be able to obtain maximum force to the throw in that you receive maximum contribution from the pectoralis. When a throw is made to the right, the pectoralis contributes little to the power of the throw.
If you watched Manning last game, it was painfully obvious that any successful passes to the right were short and low. And in some of those, in order to compensate, he turned his whole body to his target so that it would be more equivalent to a straight ahead throw (using the assist of the pectoralis). All three of his interceptions came when he attempted intermediate passes to the right side of the field while facing the middle of the field. Those passes and others floated and/or were inaccurate. Remember, accuracy especially with longer passes require adequate power. Power or the lack thereof affects accuracy. The less power behind your throw, the less likely a longer throw will be delivered accurately and the more likely you will lose form and inappropriately overuse the core muscles in desperate attempt for additional forward power. This last game, Peyton’s greatest success was with throws across his body to the left side of the field as in the case of his sole TD pass.
[As an aside, C7 also innervates the latissimus dorsi muscle which can to a much lesser degree contribute to a forward pass.]
Keeping all of this in mind, a defense strategy that could serve Wade well would be to place maximum pass rush pressure to Peytons right and force him to the left of his back field. This way it would significantly lessen his chances of going to the right side with his passes and encourage him to focus mostly on the left side of the field. At the same time, Wade could concentrate his secondary’s attention to the left awaiting those passes. If Peyton chooses to still throw from his exaggerated left backfield position to the right side of the field, his throws would be that much weaker and more inaccurate, making them less likely to be completed and ripe for the pick. Forcing Peyton to pass to his right could be the Texans' path this Sunday to driving him to his Waterloo.