Aaron Rodgers reveals the true meaning of Peyton Manning's 'Omaha' call

[bayone]

Rodgers spilled the beans during a recent appearance on the HBO show Any Given Wednesday.

 

During an extra segment Rodgers went into more detail on what he likes about Manning

"I like watching Peyton," Rodgers said. "Peyton did a lot for the pre-snap for everybody."

"The Omaha stuff?" Simmons asked.

"That was important," Rodgers said.  ....it's a timing mechanism where his offense can get off at the same time, ( with built in adjustments as Peyton saw fit with all staying on the same page  )   

its beauty &  brilliance is that it goes from that word to you saw numerous times he would change it. He would have a code word that would mean it wasn't coming on the 'Omaha.' It wasn't 'Omaha, Omaha, set hut,' that was a dummy."  

1 offensive advantage is the split-second head start they're theoretically supposed to get because they know the snap count & the defense doesn't. That advantage can go away when the snap count has to change, but Manning's team would keep the advantage because of his incessant 'Omaha' calls.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/aaron-rodgers-reveals-the-true-meaning-of-peyton-mannings-omaha-call/

[21isSuperman]

I have my doubts on this.  The things Rodgers is claiming are reasons for having a cadence as opposed to no cadence.  But why would he change from the usual colour-number cadence to Omaha?  The point of the colour-number cadence is the same as what Rodgers claims: to get everyone on the offense on the same timing.  And you can call plenty of things in the huddle so the snap doesn't always come after the same point in the cadence (eg. on go, on 2) regardless of whether you use Omaha or a colour-number cadence, so none of what he is saying is exclusive to Omaha over the typical cadence.

 

From what I recall, Brady was using Omaha before Peyton.  Until I hear one of them say what they use it for, I'll have my doubts.

[Superman]

11 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

I have my doubts on this.  The things Rodgers is claiming are reasons for having a cadence as opposed to no cadence.  But why would he change from the usual colour-number cadence to Omaha?  The point of the colour-number cadence is the same as what Rodgers claims: to get everyone on the offense on the same timing.  And you can call plenty of things in the huddle so the snap doesn't always come after the same point in the cadence (eg. on go, on 2) regardless of whether you use Omaha or a colour-number cadence, so none of what he is saying is exclusive to Omaha over the typical cadence.

 

From what I recall, Brady was using Omaha before Peyton.  Until I hear one of them say what they use it for, I'll have my doubts.

 

The point is that Omaha was used to audible the snap count, so that Manning could kill the play and dummy snap, then announce the snap count, then run the play. He was basically changing the snap count at the line. Which is what I always thought "Omaha" was about.

 

Cadence is still different, which is why there were different ways of stressing the word. "OHmaha" was different than "ohmaHA." Sometimes neither of them mattered because it was a dummy count.

 

I don't think the word was important, and he used multiple words the same way. But I do think Rodgers' basic explanation is on the right track. 

[21isSuperman]

17 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

The point is that Omaha was used to audible the snap count, so that Manning could kill the play and dummy snap, then announce the snap count, then run the play. He was basically changing the snap count at the line. Which is what I always thought "Omaha" was about.

 

Cadence is still different, which is why there were different ways of stressing the word. "OHmaha" was different than "ohmaHA." Sometimes neither of them mattered because it was a dummy count.

 

I don't think the word was important, and he used multiple words the same way. But I do think Rodgers' basic explanation is on the right track. 

I think I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.  If I understand correctly, Omaha can be used differently based on what Peyton wanted (eg. on 2 would be OHmaha while on go would be OmaHA), but he's used different audibles for snap counts in the past.  Why not change things up, like he did during his time in Indy, to keep defenses honest?  Wouldn't teams begin to catch on if he uses one word the whole time?  My confusion is why he would use Omaha so much instead of mixing things up.  What advantage does the specific word "Omaha" give that a different audible or typical cadence does not give?

[Coffeedrinker]

4 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

I think I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.  If I understand correctly, Omaha can be used differently based on what Peyton wanted (eg. on 2 would be OHmaha while on go would be OmaHA), but he's used different audibles for snap counts in the past.  Why not change things up, like he did during his time in Indy, to keep defenses honest?  Wouldn't teams begin to catch on if he uses one word the whole time?  My confusion is why he would use Omaha so much instead of mixing things up.  What advantage does the specific word "Omaha" give that a different audible or typical cadence does not give?

This is all similar to what I posted a while ago here.

 

So, Omaha doesn't mean snap, it means snap at the next sound.

Why use Omaha rather than some other word?  I'm guessing, no reason other than it is something easy to say and understand even with a mouthpiece.  Maybe the person who came up with the idea was from Omaha

[21isSuperman]

43 minutes ago, Coffeedrinker said:

This is all similar to what I posted a while ago here.

 

So, Omaha doesn't mean snap, it means snap at the next sound.

Why use Omaha rather than some other word?  I'm guessing, no reason other than it is something easy to say and understand even with a mouthpiece.  Maybe the person who came up with the idea was from Omaha

If it meant the same thing each time, wouldn't defenses catch onto it and be able to anticipate it?  And if it's the same word, how would the offensive guys discern between dummy counts and real counts?

[Superman]

45 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

I think I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.  If I understand correctly, Omaha can be used differently based on what Peyton wanted (eg. on 2 would be OHmaha while on go would be OmaHA), but he's used different audibles for snap counts in the past.  Why not change things up, like he did during his time in Indy, to keep defenses honest?  Wouldn't teams begin to catch on if he uses one word the whole time?  My confusion is why he would use Omaha so much instead of mixing things up.  What advantage does the specific word "Omaha" give that a different audible or typical cadence does not give?

 

He DID change things up. Omaha got a lot of attention, but that's not the only one he used. He used Apple, Marshall, Montana, etc. And it didn't always mean the same thing, so your bolded, while just an example, kind of illustrates why the call could be confusing for defenses. When you think you have it figured out, it changes, and you're offsides. Ask the Chargers, they were probably the absolute worst at it.

 

The Packers have been using "Green 19" since the Favre days, but they've also changed up and used different words. The Pats used to use Omaha, then Raider, then Alpha, etc. I don't think the word is important. 

 

By the way, I don't claim to fully understand how they were using it. But I do think Rodgers is correct that it was a way to specifically audible the snap count, as opposed to changing the play or the direction of the play. 

[Coffeedrinker]

17 minutes ago, 21isSuperman said:

If it meant the same thing each time, wouldn't defenses catch onto it and be able to anticipate it?  And if it's the same word, how would the offensive guys discern between dummy counts and real counts?

No, because Omaha just meant next sound.  As I mentioned in the other thread, sometimes he would say Omaha, hut and the D would jump and the o would not.  Maybe he told them in the huddle, maybe like Rodgers suggested he had a code word in there, to let the O know that the first Omaha hut is meaningless and go on the second Omaha.  He changed it up enough so the D had to watch the ball but the O knew which sound after which omaha to go on.