Last off-season the New York Giants challenged Eli Manning to complete 70% of his passes. Many laughed at this as his personal best completion percent was only 62.9%. Although, Manning did not reach 70%, he still had one of his best seasons of his career throwing for his second highest number of touchdowns while keeping his touchdown to interception ratio at a career low in Ben McAdoo’s new offensive system. In this breakdown we will go over some of Manning’s touchdowns to show how he did this and in my next article we will take a look at his interceptions to see where the two time Super Bowl winning QB can improve.
Stats
Regular Season - 379/601 (63.1%), 4,410 yards, 7.3 y/a, 30 TDs, 14 INTs, and 1 rushing TD
First let’s take a look at the recipients of Manning’s 30 thrown touchdowns during the 2014 season:
Receiver Breakdown
| Odell Beckham | 12 |
| Larry Donnell | 6 |
| Daniel Fells | 4 |
| Rueben Randle | 3 |
| Preston Parker | 2 |
| Victor Cruz | 1 |
| Adrien Robinson | 1 |
| Corey Washington | 1 |
As you can see Beckham was the primary target of the season, but before he started contributing in Week 5, tight end Larry Donnell caught most of Manning’s touchdowns and seemed to fade as the season progressed in favor of Beckham. Here is a quarter and down breakdown of his touchdowns:
Quarter Breakdown
| 1st Quarter | 8 |
| 2nd Quarter | 9 |
| 3rd Quarter | 5 |
| 4th Quarter | 9 |
Down Breakdown
| 1st Down | 6 |
| 2nd Down | 12 |
| 3rd Down | 11 |
| 4th Down | 2 |
While here is a breakdown of Manning’s passes by distance and location. Reminder: Distance is broken down by how long the touchdown score actually was, while location is the position on the field where Manning placed the ball.
Distance Breakdown
| Fewer than 6 Yards | 12 |
| Between 6 and 15 yards | 10 |
| More than 15 yards | 9 |
Location Breakdown
| Deep Left | Deep Middle | Deep Right |
| 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Intermediate Left | Intermediate Middle | Intermediate Right |
| 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Short Left | Short Middle | Short Right |
| 4 | 4 | 7 |
Finally, here is a route breakdown on the touchdown passes.
Route Breakdown
| Vertical - Go/Out-n-Up/Fade/Backshoulder | 9 |
| Slant/Drag/Drive | 5 |
| Zig/Quick-Out | 3 |
| Post | 3 |
| Hitch/Comeback | 2 |
| Seam | 2 |
| Spot | 2 |
| Flat/Wheel | 2 |
| Banana | 1 |
| In | 1 |
You will notice a lot of vertical passes especially fades/backshoulder passes. In back-to-back touchdown passes the Giants ran the same play - goalline fade - to different receivers for the score utilizing Manning’s excellent sideline touch on the ball. Now let’s take a look at some plays:
Play 1
Situation: 4th and 5 at DAL 5
Description: Q4 - (5:34) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass short right to O.Beckham for 5 yards, TOUCHDOWN [T.Crawford].J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 7. DAL
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Double Slot
Offensive Personnel: 10
Defensive Formation: Goalline Cover 1 Zones
The Giants are down by 14 with a little over five minutes left in the game and they need to get something going. It’s fourth down and they decide to go for it. Eli, in shotgun, has four receivers split out wide with RB44 Williams in the backfield with him. The Cowboys bring four pass rushers to attack the offensive lineman. DT98 Crawford from the 3-tech spot bulljerks the left guard out of his path and forces Eli outside of the pocket to his right.
From the right slot position, WR13 Beckham runs a spot route - a route designed to attack underneath zone coverage - back towards the middle of the field. As Eli is scrambling outside Beckham is able to find a gap between LB52 Durant and FS42 Church for the touchdown at the goalline.
This play illustrates Eli’s ability to keep his eyes downfield even when feeling pressured. The rest of the offensive players were covered and Manning had to make a play here to keep the game close. The Giants ultimately lost this game, but they at least had a chance late in the 4th quarter.
Play 2
Situation: 1st and 10 at DAL 43
Description: Q2 - (15:00) E.Manning pass deep right to O.Beckham for 43 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Penalty on DAL-B.Carr, Defensive Pass Interference, declined. The Replay Official challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was Upheld. The ruling on the field was confirmed. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 12. DAL
Offensive Formation: Singleback -> Offset-I
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Man - 4 Underneath Zones
This is the catch heard round the world. Manning lines up in offset-I formation. Beckham is on the outside right with CB Carr playing man-to-man coverage. Cowboys are in single-high safety with four linebacker zones underneath. Manning runs a PA bootleg to the right that sucks up all of the linebackers into the line of scrimmage expecting a running play.
Beckham runs an out-and-up route that Carr actually covers well. Watch as Beckham cuts on the out portion of the route. Carr bets correctly that Beckham is going to go deep and he continues on his path. It is not until Carr turns his body expecting the ball to come down sooner that he interferes with Beckham. Beckham uses his strength to get off of the pass interference and make a leaping backwards dive for the ball to catch the touchdown.
To be critical, if I was Manning I would not have thrown the ball to Beckham in this situation. Watch WR83 Parker run his deep-in route across the middle of the field. There is a huge hole between the deep Cover 1 safety and the 4 inside linebackers that were sucked up in the play-action and this would be my go-to receiver on this play. Obviously it pays off and this becomes an incredible play thanks to Beckham’s amazing catch ability, but also due to Manning’s great ball placement.
Play 3
Situation: 3rd and 3 at TEN 15
Description: Q1 - (4:47) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass short left to O.Beckham for 15 yards, TOUCHDOWN. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 14. TEN
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Left Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Man
Halfway through the 1st quarter Manning is in shotgun on 3rd down. The Titans are in Cover 1 rushing four defenders to the outside leaving the middle of the pocket untouched. This is because the defenders over the right side of the offensive line were attempting to run a stunt having the outside defender crash through the middle. The stunt works, but takes far too long to develop for DT99 Casey to get to the quarterback.
Manning uses this to his advantage and steps up into a clean pocket to find Beckham on the left side of the field running a deep post route behind his defender in man-to-man coverage. From Manning’s perspective his first read was the slot receiver running a drag over the middle of the field, but that’s covered so Manning moves on to Beckham who uses his speed to break past his man and completely turn him around by the 5 yard line. The deep safety is playing over the middle of the endzone and can’t get to the pass in time to make a play on it. Manning does a great job of fitting this ball in front of Beckham so only he could get it once he cut inside. Excellent pass and read on the play.
Play 4
Situation: 3rd and 8 at WSH 10
Description: Q1 - (1:45) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass short right to O.Beckham for 10 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Penalty on WAS-D.Amerson, Illegal Use of Hands, declined. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 15. WAS
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 Man
The Giants run a pick/rub concept on the right side of the field with WR83 Parker on the outside running a slant and WR13 Beckham running a wheel route to the endzone. The Redskins are in Cover 1 man coverage with CB30 Biggers playing over Beckham while CB26 Breeland plays press coverage on Parker. This man-to-man coverage is exactly what Manning wants to see and what causes Beckham to escape untouched to the goalline. Manning snaps the ball and releases the ball quickly even before LB93 Murphy beats the left tackle on a great spin move to the inside. Beckham is able to use his strength to hold off Biggers’ attempted pass breakup for the touchdown. Great showing of strength by Beckham, but also give credit to Manning for the quick decision-making and execution on the play.
Play 5
Situation: 2nd and 5 at WSH 35
Description: Q3 - (1:30) (No Huddle, Shotgun) E.Manning pass short middle to O.Beckham for 35 yards, TOUCHDOWN [R.Kerrigan]. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 15. WAS
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 2 Man
This play is an example of the vast number of busted coverages I saw while watching Manning’s touchdowns this season. I’ve honestly never seen so many touchdowns off of completely busted defenses and just terrible coverage in comparison to the other quarterbacks I have analyzed this season.
In this play, Beckham runs a slant route from the right outside while the slot receiver runs a swing route to the right sideline. Manning’s first read is the swing route on 2nd and 5, but he notices that CB26 Breeland leaves Beckham and crashes in on the swing pass, while CB30 Biggers does the same thing from the slot. This is a defensive breakdown or miscommunication. Beckham is free over the middle of the field for an easy slant pass for the long touchdown. The hope is that the safety playing over the deep right side of the field will be in position to stop the touchdown, but he gets pulled completely out of the play and is not even close to touching Beckham. Just awful.
Play 6
Situation: 3rd and 10 at NYG 20
Description: Q3 - (:55) (Shotgun) E.Manning pass deep middle to O.Beckham for 80 yards, TOUCHDOWN. J.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-Z.DeOssie, Holder-S.Weatherford.
Opponent: 16. STL
Offensive Formation: Shotgun Twin Bunch Right Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 2
By the end of the season, Beckham was unstoppable and kept breaking free on long touchdown passes. In this play, Beckham lines up in the right slot and runs a deep post route between the Cover 2 defense of the Rams for the long touchdown score.
After the snap, Manning reads the field and finds the deep left safety stay on his side of the field, while SS26 Barron plays the other deep half on the opposite side. WR82 Randle runs an in-route over the middle of the field cutting by the 30-yard line while Beckham continues on his deep post pulling Barron further out of the middle of the field. Manning who feels the pressure from the Rams five pass rushers steps up into the pocket and releases the ball deep over the middle of the field anticipating Beckham cutting back across on his post.
The two defenders over Randle and Beckham are partially responsible for the coverage breakdown as they both cover Randle on the in-route thinking the other was covering Beckham on the deep post. Additionally, SS26 Barron shows why he doesn’t have the skills necessary to play free safety in the NFL by getting completely burned looking towards the sideline as Beckham cuts back inside. Just an awful showing by Barron. Another good example of Manning making the most of these breakdowns.
Overall, Manning did an excellent job all season of exploiting numerous defensive breakdowns with the help of rising star Odell Beckham, Jr. By my count, I saw twelve wide-open defensive breakdowns that resulted in touchdowns. You can see two of these in Plays 5 and 6. A defensive breakdown combined with Beckham’s speed and Manning’s ball placement is an excellent recipe for a long broken touchdown. To give credit to Manning though, it does still take skill to read the defense and exploit the breakdowns while getting pressured by pass rushers. It will be very interesting watching Beckham and Manning develop their chemistry in New York Giants’ offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo’s system as they both will have a full year of experience under their belts. In my next article we will take a look at Manning’s interceptions during the 2014 season.
