During Peyton Manning's reign as Broncos quarterback, Colorado changed. For one thing, orange No. 18 jerseys were worn by 2-year-olds and 92-year-olds.
And there was another thing, too.
Everyone tried to figure out why he kept shouting "Omaha" at the line of scrimmage, just before the snap.
Here's why:
"Omaha was just an indicator word," Manning recently said. "It was a trigger word that meant we had changed the play, there was low time on the clock, and that ball needed to be snapped right now to kind of let my offensive lineman know that 'Hey, we'd gone to Plan B, there's low time on the clock.' It's a rhythmic three-syllable word, 'O-ma-ha, set hut.'"
Manning, a detail freak, was not pleased when the NFL embraced technology that allowed TV viewers to better hear exactly what he was barking in his signals. He joked that he should have shouted, "Jim Nantz is a no good you-know-what."
"Then they would have turned those microphones down," Manning said.
He's probably correct about that.
