Peyton Manning didn’t only use his arm to beat the Chargers on Sunday. He also used his voice.
Manning’s hard count so frustrated the Chargers that they were flagged for neutral zone infractions a whopping five times. That was very unlike the Chargers: According to NFLPenalties.com, the Chargers had only three neutral zone infraction penalties in their previous 17 games.
But the hard count wasn’t the aspect of Manning’s cadence that had people talking during the Chargers-Broncos game. What really got everyone’s attention was the way Manning yelled “Omaha” dozens of times during the game.
We don’t know what exactly “Omaha” means in the Broncos’ offense, but “Omaha” has long been a part of the football lexicon. Tom Brady has used it in the past as part of the Patriots’ signal-calling, and NBC’s Cris Collinsworth noted during a 2009 game that Peyton’s brother Eli Manning seemed to be tipping the Cowboys off to the Giants’ snap count because whenever Eli yelled “Omaha,” the next word out of his mouth was the signal for the center to snap the ball.
If Peyton has any similar tells for his use of “Omaha,” the Chargers weren’t able to figure it out. Perhaps Patriots coach Bill Belichick can crack the code.