National Football League

Eli Manning was one of the best play action passers in 2014

Published Jun. 5, 2015 8:52 a.m. ET

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Quarterback Eli Manning's turnaround in 2014 was quite remarkable. After completed just 57.5 percent of his passes with an 18:27 touchdown to interception ratio in 2013, he bounced back by completing a career high 63.1 percent of his passes on route to a 30:14 touchdown to interception ratio. Last week, we looked at Manning's brilliance in the intermediate passing game--defined by pass attempts in the 11-20 yard range. Manning was also at his best when utilizing the play action pass in 2014.

Sports Illustrated's Doug Farrar crunched the numbers from Pro Football Focus combined with his personal film study to highlight the five best play action quarterbacks from last season. Manning made the cut. According to Farrar, Manning went with play-action on 21.3% of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and four picks, as opposed to 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions without it.

In first year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo's scheme, Manning was tasked with getting rid of the football at a much faster rate than ever before in his career. During his run in Kevin Gilbride's offensive scheme, Manning would turn off the play action and often have to wait for different long-formulating option routes to develop. In McAdoo's offense, he featured "levels" concepts where Manning can turn off the play action and read different options at different depths of the field.

In his piece, Farrar featured the game tape breakdown of Manning's play action deep pass to Odell Beckham Jr. in Week 12. That was an amazing catch and Manning did a great job to sell the play action and keep the deep safety honest. However, Manning also thrived in the intermediate passing game off the play action. This is where he was able to freeze the linebackers and keep McAdoo's offense rolling. In his second year in the system, it will be interesting to see if Manning's play action usage spikes as the offense tries to find some kind of balance with the running game.

(h/t Sports Illustrated)

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Seth Wenig