Peyton Manning didn’t tell Denver Broncos coaches, teammates he was running naked bootleg
By Bryan Rose
When Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning ran a naked bootleg for a touchdown Sunday afternoon, you could feel the earth’s gravitational pull swing from the amount of mouths that just dropped.
Manning? Run? They’re two words that aren’t often seen together and even less when they’re involved in a touchdown, but that’s exactly what happened during Denver’s three point victory over the Dallas Cowboys.
As Denver was powering their way down the field towards the end of the second quarter, Manning figured he’d pull a bit of trickery and run a naked bootleg, though, it wasn’t just any naked bootleg. It was a true secret bootleg as Manning told nobody (not the coaching staff, not the players on the field) that he was running the play.
Per ESPN:
"Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning said, in order to get everyone else on offense to sell it as a business-as-usual run play, he didn’t tell anyone, either in the huddle or on the sideline, that he planned to run the naked bootleg for a 1-yard touchdown just before halftime. He made the decision as soon the Dallas defender covering tight end Julius Thomas went in motion with the tight end. “If you do it every five years, it’s a good tendency-breaker,’’ Manning said."
It seems as if at this moment, Manning can do no wrong. He can even fake out his own team and coaching staff, if need be.