y*so*blu Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 I know this is pretty old news, but bear with me. Towards the end of Peyton's illustrious career, as he became less competent and more injury-prone, he was increasingly referred to - here and on other sites - as "zombified." In fact, the phrase "a zombified Peyton Manning" became so common that it spawned many jokes and several pictures. It seemed to happen very suddenly, because Peyton was a great QB as late as the 2013 season. I wasn't following the Broncos very closely at the time, so I've been wondering: when, and how, did the HOFer decline so dramatically? And who coined the term referring to him as the walking undead? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soko Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 It was his last season. Some would say the end of the season the year prior when I believe he was playing with a thigh injury? But zombie Peyton didn’t really come out until 2015 when his declining arm completely went and he started to get even more injured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DontTazeMeBro Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 Even in 2013 his arm was a noodle. To compensate they ran almost nothing but picks and bubble screens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlowe22 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 1 minute ago, DontTazeMeBro said: Even in 2013 his arm was a noodle. To compensate they ran almost nothing but picks and bubble screens. His arm was much better in 2013 than 2015. It wasn't great and he still threw ducks, but he made some decent throws as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twizlers Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 It was the Broncos @ Rams game in 2014. He, and the rest of the Broncos offense, was never the same after that debacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMossIsBoss Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 If Peyton really was a noodle armed scrub as early as 2013, then Gase should be in the damn HOF for helping such a bad QB break the TD and yardage mark en route to a historically good offense. DT, Decker, Welker, and Julus Thomas is a great receiving corp, but it's really not that special, we've seen better receiving corps since (not to mention, it seems Decker and Julius benefited much more from Peyton than the other way around). Peyton's arm was more than adequate in 2013, just watch a game from that season and you'll see. Compare it to 2015, when he really did have a noodle. He was fine in 2014 as well up until the injury. Ever since that injury, he become "zombified." Age + injury completely killed his arm strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLambert58 Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 And, why, for the love of all that is holy, can Tom Brady not decline in similar fashion? I always thought Peyton was more like Frankenstein: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
August4th Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 think his numbers and play started to drastically decline in the middle of 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iamcanadian Posted December 8, 2017 Share Posted December 8, 2017 A number of neck surgeries simply took their toll and he just wasn't the player he had been. Happens to them all!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayRaider Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 The last 4-5 games of 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-mac Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 Peyton's arm was fine in 2012 and 2013, even in the first half of 2014. The trip to St Louis is the exact point where is all went pear shaped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-mac Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 3 minutes ago, tonyto36 said: I wouldn't say much better, but in arbitrary terms his arm in 2013 was weak and by 2015 it was overcooked spaghetti. The Broncos offense started so hot in 2013 it was hard to see past the stats but he was clearly not himself. He couldn't play under center, not just his neck/arm but the rest of his body was falling apart too. He never had particularly good footwork but it was exacerbated as he slowed down. By the middle of 2013 when the weather cooled I thought he was cooked. Absolute garbage. He only really had one poor game in 2013 which was the home loss against San Diego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlowe22 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 15 minutes ago, tonyto36 said: I wouldn't say much better, but in arbitrary terms his arm in 2013 was weak and by 2015 it was overcooked spaghetti. The Broncos offense started so hot in 2013 it was hard to see past the stats but he was clearly not himself. He couldn't play under center, not just his neck/arm but the rest of his body was falling apart too. He never had particularly good footwork but it was exacerbated as he slowed down. By the middle of 2013 when the weather cooled I thought he was cooked. Stats aside, I'm not worried about stats, Peyton Manning made some throws in 2013 he would never have come close to making in 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jlowe22 Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 2 minutes ago, tonyto36 said: That's definitely true. Zombie Peyton is a term that isn't really quantifiable. I just think he wasn't close to prime Peyton in 2013 despite the stats being career best. No he wasn't prime Peyton as far as arm strength goes, but I don't think just anyone would have had that much success. The elite QBs yea, but Flacco? No way IMO. Peyton still knew how to read a defense better than just about anyone, and his arm wasn't so bad he couldn't make some right throws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayRaider Posted December 9, 2017 Share Posted December 9, 2017 23 minutes ago, tonyto36 said: You understand that you can have a ton of pretty stat lines and play poorly right? Joe Flacco would have thrown for 50 TDs on that team. Your way over simplifying this. Flacco would of came no where close to 50 TD's. Peytons arm was still good enough, not a total noodle yet, and his Football IQ with that offensive cast was the ultimate deadly combination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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