Peyton Manning On Bootlegs
"In a November game where RB Edgerrin James was out with injury, Manning, who had never run for more than 26 yards in a game, again decided at the line of scrimmage to fake the handoff. He didn't tell his O-line, not even running back Dominic Rhodes, and hustled 33 yards for a touchdown. "That's an old Archie Manning special right there," he told the
Indianapolis Star.
"Quarterback bootlegs are the best when nobody else knows," he said after the game. "It was a run play all the way. At the last minute, I saw their safety cheating to the side. They bit."
But what does he know?
My only quibble with the call, would be to call a boot away from the run action, not towards it. With run action towards it, the edge defender didn't crash in on the down blocks like he likely would have otherwise. In addition, the nearest linebacker (presumably the flats defender) didn't go out on Ozigbo, so Tommy had the edge defender and a linebacker in his face.
In a normal situation, trying to squeeze it between them to Ozigbo is the right idea. Could have run a long ways had it been caught. But, since it was not a normal situation, Tommy needed to do as he was told, eat the play and let the clock run. Which is exactly what he did late in the bowl game when the QB counter play (I think) was blown up and he scrambled and looked like he was about to chuck up a duck.
One of the reasons why you always have your QB carry out a fake on a running play is exactly so you can tell him to keep it, and run a boot without having had to actually install it. A boot pass or waggle pass SHOULD work the same way. Yes, there will be routes, but let them run off their defenders and you keep.