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Wait? What? What did that headline just say? Slow-footed Eli Manning is better outside the pocket than mobile, play-making, improvisational guys like Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson?
What?
Here’s the context to that.
Also updated: Top-rated QBs this year OUTSIDE THE POCKET. #GoBucs #InBrotherhood #FightForEachOther #FlyEaglesFly #GiantsPride #Seahawks #Texans #ChiefsKingdom #GoBills pic.twitter.com/LqPm61DluH
— NFL Matchup on ESPN (@NFLMatchup) December 10, 2018
What does this mean? Certainly not that the 37-year-old Manning can make more plays running around that Watson, Wilson. Patrick Mahomes or Jared Goff.
What it probably indicates is that the Giants have done a good job using play action, using the bootleg, rolling the pocket on occasion and getting the generally stationary Manning off the spot where pass rushers think he is going to be.
It also seems to indicate that when the Giants have asked him to move, and simplified the reads he needs to make by basically giving him only half the field to throw to, that Manning has made good decisions and thrown the ball accurately more often than not.
It’s also kind of interesting to see Philip Rivers, another stationary 37-year-old, on this list.
In the end, just kind of a fun fact to pass along.