Aaronstory
Footballguy
Found this over at Football Outsiders and laughed my ### off...
The Colts suffered a major blow when they lost center Jeff Saturday for six weeks. Centers are hard players to replace in any system, but the Colts need Saturday to act as Peyton’s lieutenant and interpreter when he is running the no-huddle and changing plays at the line. Saturday has been doing the job since Manning was a rookie. If you don’t believe that’s important, let’s examine what goes through Saturday’s mind presnap, in contrast to what will go through backup Steve Justice’s mind: Jeff Saturday’s Mind: Peyton’s pointing at the receivers. He wants Reggie to run the smash. He’s waving his arms now. Yes, roll the protection left, Peyton, I’m on it. Now he’s pointing at the linebacker. He wants me to see the linebacker. I’ve been doing this for a decade, you control freak, I see the damn linebacker. Oh now he’s wiggling his fingers. That’s just showing off. My glutes are burning here, Commercial Boy, how about we just snap the friggin’ ball?
Steve Justice’s Mind: Peyton’s pointing. What does that mean? Oh my God, is he trying to tell me something? Is there a corner blitz? No wait, he’s pointing at that blitzing linebacker. I know he’s blitzing; I was a three-year starter in college. But wait, maybe he’s telling me that the linebacker isn’t blitzing. Or maybe he’s trying to fake the linebacker into thinking that he thinks he’s going to blitz so he will blitz, when actually he’s not supposed to blitz. What’s with the fingers? What was the snap count? Oh well, I’m the center, and I just decided it’s one. Can’t go wrong with one!
The Colts suffered a major blow when they lost center Jeff Saturday for six weeks. Centers are hard players to replace in any system, but the Colts need Saturday to act as Peyton’s lieutenant and interpreter when he is running the no-huddle and changing plays at the line. Saturday has been doing the job since Manning was a rookie. If you don’t believe that’s important, let’s examine what goes through Saturday’s mind presnap, in contrast to what will go through backup Steve Justice’s mind: Jeff Saturday’s Mind: Peyton’s pointing at the receivers. He wants Reggie to run the smash. He’s waving his arms now. Yes, roll the protection left, Peyton, I’m on it. Now he’s pointing at the linebacker. He wants me to see the linebacker. I’ve been doing this for a decade, you control freak, I see the damn linebacker. Oh now he’s wiggling his fingers. That’s just showing off. My glutes are burning here, Commercial Boy, how about we just snap the friggin’ ball?
Steve Justice’s Mind: Peyton’s pointing. What does that mean? Oh my God, is he trying to tell me something? Is there a corner blitz? No wait, he’s pointing at that blitzing linebacker. I know he’s blitzing; I was a three-year starter in college. But wait, maybe he’s telling me that the linebacker isn’t blitzing. Or maybe he’s trying to fake the linebacker into thinking that he thinks he’s going to blitz so he will blitz, when actually he’s not supposed to blitz. What’s with the fingers? What was the snap count? Oh well, I’m the center, and I just decided it’s one. Can’t go wrong with one!
