When your last name is “Manning” and you play quarterback, your weekly performances — good or bad — are going to receive attention. Arch Manning used to get praised for his showings, but lately, scrutiny is the name of his game.
Everyone in The Lone Star State is ready to put Manning on the backburner at Texas. The toxicity around the Longhorns’ passer led Chase Daniel and Tim Tebow to dive into Manning’s tape on SEC Nation. The two SEC legends broke down footage of three plays from Manning’s game vs. Florida, including a deep incompletion to star wideout Cam Coleman.
“Why are we taking this go-route when this [out-route] is wide open?” Daniel asked. “You have a guy [at the sticks].”
“I just don’t see it the same,” Tebow replied. “If I’m Arch, and I get… man-to-man [coverage]… I have Cam Coleman… I’m gonna take it over and over and over… you should be thinking, as a quarterback, ‘home run.'”
Manning sailed the throw out of bounds, which Tebow criticized, saying Manning needed to give his receiver “a chance” at catching the ball. Another deep attempt drew Daniel’s ire because Manning seemed to ignore traditional QB instincts to make that decision.
“The read is [over-route, dig-route, then checkdown]… he takes that extra hitch… you should trust your feet,” Daniel exclaimed. “You’ve never thrown a ball down the field on your fourth hitch. Usually, bad things happen. So when he does do this, that should be intercepted… you’re putting the ball in harm’s way.”
“When you see a soft coverage… you’ve got to be anticipating ‘[the seam route isn’t] gonna be there,'” Tebow said. “And I’m gonna now be quicker [through my reads]… now I reset, I can throw the swing route, and we’re gonna have a really good gain here.”
Manning will try to get back to fundamentals vs. Ole Miss on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. E.T., ABC).
