With their playoff hopes dangling in space and the AFC West title on the line, the San Diego Chargers are gearing up to stop Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
In advance of Sunday's tussle, veteran corner Brandon Flowers wrote about preparing to face Peyton in an interesting column for TheMMQB.com.
Let's see what the cornerback had to say about how the Chargers will clamp down on the man tied for the NFL lead in touchdown passes:
"Playing Peyton Manning is kind of like playing LeBron James," Flowers wrote. "You really can't stop LeBron James. You can only hope to contain him to win the game."
Not a great start, Brandon. Unless Manning is moving to Cleveland and cutting out carbs, we're not sure that LeBron analogy will help Chargers fans sleep better.
Flowers has experience playing against Manning, with his first foray back in 2010, when Manning was in Indianapolis and Flowers in Kansas City.
"That week felt like we were preparing for battle," the cornerback wrote. "You have to be precise in everything you do. You can't give him even an inch. You have to conduct a flawless game plan."
Just flawless? Oh, is that all?
"... Everything you do, he knows it, or he can adjust to it. He operates like a machine."
Sure, but that machine has been on the fritz a bit lately. Just last week Manning had zero touchdowns for the first time in 51 games and threw two interceptions. The Chargers caught him at the prefect time to take advantage, right?
"You might hear some analysts say he has lost a bit on the football, but I don't see it," Flowers wrote. "When we're watching him on film and game-planning, he looks like the same Peyton to me. In fact, he's almost getting better every week. He still gets the ball on the money, and his receivers are still beating defensive backs every week on deep balls."
"I think the key is: Make him beat you up and down the field. Don't give up big plays that make the score wide open," Flowers wrote. "Make him try to chip away, chip away, chip away, and hopefully he'll eventually make a mistake..."
Well, that sounds like a shaky strategy.
"...Or, maybe a bit more likely, someone on his offensive line will."
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