You’ll hear Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning scream “Omaha” when you watch tonight’s game against the Colts on NBC, but Manning wishes you wouldn’t.
Manning told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times that he opposes the NFL rule requiring centers or guards on every team to wear small microphones taped to their shoulder pads. That rule enhances the audio quality of the at-home experience and gives fans the opportunity to hear what Manning and other quarterbacks say on the field. But Manning said it also gives an edge to opposing players and coaches who watch the game on TV and use that audio to prepare to face the Broncos.
“I’m against it,” Manning said. “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.”
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians is even more annoyed about it than Manning. Arians says that when he was offensive coordinator of the Steelers, they lost a game to the Ravens because Baltimore picked up Pittsburgh’s calls from hearing them on TV.
“We lost home-field advantage because Baltimore had somebody who was sitting and listening to all the TV copies,” he said. “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. It sounds great for the fans and all that, but it makes a big headache for coaches.”
If that’s true, it’s a credit to Suggs for his preparation. And it also raises the question of why the Steelers didn’t change their calls from week to week so that opponents wouldn’t see their plays coming -- or hear their plays coming. The NFL does all it can to make the at-home experience great for TV viewers, so there’s no way the league is going to change the practice of using on-field microphones to give fans an earful of the action. So smart coaches and quarterbacks will figure out a way to live with it.
