Derrick Johnson: Chiefs ‘got to do some damage’ to Peyton Manning
By Mike Dyce
The NFL line up on Sunday is headlined by the AFC West match up between the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs and the one-loss Denver Broncos. The Chiefs offense can’t match the Broncos out put in a shootout, so they’ll rely on their defense to slow down Manning and the Broncos. The key to that? Getting after the quarterback.
“You’ve got to get pressure in his face,” said inside linebacker Derrick Johnson, via The Kansas City Star. “He doesn’t get flustered much. But somehow you have to affect him. Is it disguising by the defensive end or playing a certain coverage, or showing something and playing a different scheme?
“He’s not very mobile, and people haven’t gotten to him that much … but when you get there, you’ve got to do some damage.”
Fellow linebacker Tamba Hali agrees.
“Hitting Peyton, being able to put pressure on Peyton is all we look for,” Hali. “He’s a great quarterback, so we want to impact him when we hit him … get him off-rhythm.”
They’ll have to get to Manning quickly however. Manning’s ability to quickly read defenses allows him to get rid of the ball as well.
“It shows he has an internal clock in his head,” Hali said. “It’s frustrating. You work hard, you work hard, sometimes you win the first battle, and the second one, but there’s not much to do about it because the ball is out.
“We know he doesn’t hold the ball. If he buys time, it’s rare you don’t see the pass completed. For us to put pressure on the quarterback is huge.”