Peyton Manning says fake sack play was sort of planned

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning says that the fake sack against the Pittsburgh Steelers was sort of planned.

The playoff game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers was ugly to watch at times, but it certainly had it’s share of exciting plays and interesting moments in the game.

The biggest interesting moment from the game was when Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning fell down like he was sacked, got up and threw a big pass to Emmanuel Sanders. While it was a play that had everyone watching scratching their heads, it may have been partially designed.

After the game, Manning said that he told Sanders to be ready in case he fell down and got back up.

"“I don’t really want to analyze this play too much. I’d kind of like it to go away, if it could. I was stepping up. When you fake that way and kind of get your head around, I felt that guy closing, so I stepped up and kind of leaned forward. My momentum kind of just took me down, I guess. I didn’t think that he had touched me. I told [WR] Emmanuel [Sanders] just to kind of be alert in case I fall down, get back up to be uncovered.”"

While it doesn’t seem like they intentionally meant to fake a sack, Manning had the awareness to know that if he falls and goes down, it doesn’t mean necessarily that he’s been touched and that the play is over.

That’s the message that he relayed on the field to Sanders and the smarts involved to make a play like that happen ended up in a huge gain for the Broncos when they needed it.

It wasn’t intentional, but Manning sure knew that the play was a definite possibility.