The city of Omaha loved all the publicity it got from NFL broadcasts picking up Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning repeatedly yelling its name.
Manning, though, is not a fan of the practice of taping a microphone to the back of an offensive lineman.
"“I’m against it,” Manning told the Los Angeles Times. “You used to watch the game film and watch the opponent’s game film and now we’re spending time watching the TV copy. And now they’re trading them. The video guys, not only are they sending the silent copy as I call them, but they’re sending the TV copy.”"
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Manning’s offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, says the TV sounds make it easier for defenses to prepare.
"“We’re a no-huddle offense, we’ve got to do everything at the line of scrimmage,” Gase said. “It’s hard enough to do it when guys are listening within the game. Now, if they can do in and they’ve got a head start on it? It just screws our offense up.”"
Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians is even more adamant. He says his Pittsburgh Steelers lost a game in 2011, when he was the Steelers’ offensive coordinator, to the Baltimore Ravens because of the intrusion of the TV microphones.
"“We lost home-field advantage because Baltimore had somebody who was sitting and listening to all the TV copies,” Arians claims. “They tried to match those up to a play. We had an audible that was a quick screen and [Ravens linebacker] Terrell Suggs stepped up and intercepted it. That was going to be a walk-in touchdown. And they had the code word and they got it off the mics.”"
Players and coaches can complain all they want, though. Fans love it and the dollar drives the shield.