Montee Ball calls playing with Peyton Manning ‘overwhelming’
By Mike Dyce
We’ve all heard the stories about Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning’s football IQ, his famous audible calls and the changes at the line of the scrimmage. For rookie running back Montee Ball, it was all a bit overwhelming.
“Well, first off, it was overwhelming at the beginning just because it’s a difficult offensive play book, just because it’s Peyton Manning. He keeps a lot of players on his toes by changing the plays and all that stuff,” Ball said, via Pro Football Talk. “In our OTAs and that stuff. Every day at practice we would work on something. He would ask me, ‘What do you think you need help in?’ I would tell him I need help with this route or this play. Then we would work on it right after practice before we even go to our meetings.
The plus side of Manning’s abilities to read the defense is an ability to point his young running back in the right direction, where he can be most successful.
“That’s another way he has helped me out, really understanding what the defense is trying to accomplish and what they are trying to disguise,” Ball said. “In film and during meetings he really preached to me about watching the safeties and all that stuff. It really helped me out overall with my routes, with my runs and all that stuff.”