INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Having success as an NFL rookie quarterback is very much an inexact science.
Some, such as Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, have almost immediate triumphs. Ryan was the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2008 and became the Falcons’ starter almost immediately. He performed so well that he was voted Offensive Rookie of the Year as he passed for 3,440 yards and 16 touchdowns while leading Atlanta to the playoffs.
Ryan’s case, however, was the exception rather than the norm. Most rookie quarterbacks tend to struggle early in their careers. Many are relegated to the bench and learn while watching more experienced players line up behind center.
That’s why there has been so much interest during this preseason in how the top two quarterback prospects from April’s draft, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford and the New York Jets’ Mark Sanchez, are doing with their respective teams.
gue MVP Peyton Manning, that’s a good thing.
Manning has traveled this road. He knows the pitfalls that can befall a young, inexperienced quarterback in the NFL. But the Colts’ star QB says that playing early is the best way to learn, using the experiences of his younger brother, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, to illustrate his point.
“Certain situations are different. I can just speak to what I preferred,” he said Tuesday. “And really, Eli gives it a different perspective in the fact that he sat for 10 games and started for the last six (of his rookie season). (Eli) said what he learned in those six that he played far outweighed what he learned in the 10 on the sidelines.
“He said that you just can’t quite tell just how fast these defensive players are and just how confusing the blitzes are. And so, that sort of reinforced kind of what I thought, that the best way to learn is to play.”
The Colts quarterback added that he and Eli both came into the league under similar circumstances as Stafford and Sanchez. All four were high first-round draft picks going to teams with new coaching staffs. Peyton Manning said that fact alone helped ease his transition into the NFL.
ng in with new coaches and new systems, which I think is an advantage because you can go know the system as well as all the other veterans. That’s kind of a benefit to a rookie quarterback.”
Peyton Manning will get a close look at Stafford on Saturday as the Colts travel to Detroit. It will be the third preseason game for both teams.
“I remember how uncomfortable it was coming in to my third preseason game (as a rookie),” he said. “I think we played the Chargers that game. I don’t recall the stats, but I know that they weren’t very pretty. I mean I threw two (interceptions) to the Chargers, I knew that.”
For the record, Manning completed 11 of 21 passes for 123 yards and threw two interceptions in a 33-3 loss to San Diego on Aug. 22, 1998. The winning quarterback in that game was fellow rookie Ryan Leaf, who connected on 15 of 24 passes for 172 yards and ran for a touchdown.
“I think if you don’t play, I think you’re going to have that uncomfortable game whatever it is you do. I think the sooner you do it, the better off you’re going to be in the long run,” Manning said.
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