Snap. Catch. Chop, chop, chop. Earhole. Throw.

It takes longer to type what Peyton Manning does from snap to release than it does for him to get rid of the ball.

Don’t call Manning the quickest draw in the West. He has the fastest release of any NFL quarterback in the West, East, Midwest, North and South. On average, Manning delivers his pass, snap to release, in 2.33 seconds — 0.17 of a second faster than his average release time last season, his first with the Broncos, and nearly a tenth of a second faster than the league’s next-quickest trigger this season, Jacksonville quarterback Chad “Ready, Set, Hit Me” Henne.

“I’ve always believed that quarterbacks have to be fast thinkers,” Manning said. “Be able to make quick decisions, kind of ‘fast-twitched’ was a term I was taught at a young age at quarterback, being a ‘fast-twitched’ thinker and decision-maker.”

Snap. Grab. Long stride. Throw.

Last season, New England’s Tom Brady had the fastest average release at 2.47 seconds. Manning ranked second at 2.50. (This season, Brady is tied for sixth at 2.54.)

How about that? When Brady’s Patriots and Manning’s Broncos meet Sunday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., the high-profile game not only will feature the best NFL quarterbacks of the past 13 years, it will match the quarterbacks who get rid of the ball the fastest. Coincidence?

“Well, we prefer to go against guys that are slow decision-makers and have a real slow delivery,” Broncos interim head coach and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said with a sarcastic laugh. “My son plays quarterback, right? I’m always stressing what’s most important is smart and accurate. A guy might run a 4.2 (in the 40) and jump 10 feet high. But is he smart and accurate? Can he make quick decisions and put the ball where he wants to put it, on time?”

Brady went to the NFL scouting combine in 2001 and was so athletically unimpressive, he wasn’t drafted until the sixth round. If each of Sunday’s starting quarterbacks in the NFL were put through the scouting combine tests next week, Manning might come out ranked in the bottom five in mobility and dead last in arm strength.

And yet Manning ranks No. 1 this season in passer rating, yards, touchdown passes and win-loss record — and the Broncos (9-1) are on a league-record scoring pace.

“These guys, you can’t overestimate how smart they are,” said Tony Dungy, an NFL analyst for NBC and former NFL coach. “The whole process of reading and figuring out the coverage and deciding where to go with the ball, they do it so much faster than most quarterbacks in the NFL. They’re all processing the same information and the same reads, but they’re doing it at warp speed so they don’t have to hold the ball.”

Tebow had slow trigger

In 2011, no other NFL quarterback took longer to throw the ball, snap to release, than the Broncos’ Tim Tebow. The combination of operating the read-option sequence before throwing, and the lefty’s ponderous delivery, resulted in an average release time of 3.65 seconds, nearly half a second more deliberate than the next-slowest passer, Philadelphia’s Michael Vick.

That means Broncos offensive linemen are blocking 1.32 fewer seconds for Manning in 2013 than they did for Tebow in 2011.

What does 1.32 Mississippis do to a pass rush? It makes it almost four times more difficult to sack the quarterback. Manning is the second-most difficult passer to sack this season — once every 31.5 pass attempts. Tebow was the easiest to sack in 2011 (among quarterbacks with at least 105 pass attempts) at once every 8.2 attempts.

“Sometimes, even if you fall off a block, the defensive lineman doesn’t have time to get there,” said Broncos left guard Zane Beadles. “There’s definitely something to it.”

Among the factors that go into a quick release are good mechanics, presnap defensive coverage and blitz reads, post- snap coverage and blitz reads and patience to take the 3-yard gain and not wait for the 15-yarder to come open.

“Usually, anything over three seconds is probably a bonus in pro football today,” Manning said.

Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase pointed out how conceptual design can’t be discounted. For example, the quarterbacks with the slowest release times — a group that includes the athletic Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Colin Kaepernick — all run some form of read option before throwing the ball.

The offensive systems used by Manning and Brady are heavy on shotgun formations and rarely incorporate a seven-step drop.

“Our offense is, both are probably high-percentage passing and try to get completions to move the sticks,” Brady said. “I think that’s more the function of it than anything.”

Still, no one is better at carrying out a play-action fake than Manning — and his release time of 2.33 seconds is a full second quicker than Wilson’s 3.35 release time last season.

Among the benefits of a quick release is the frustration it causes pass rushers.

“When you go against guys like Tom Brady and Philip Rivers,” said Broncos pass rusher Von Miller, “you have to take advantage of those third-and-long opportunities.”

The offense, meanwhile, takes advantage of yards after the catch. Denver wideout Demaryius Thomas leads NFL receivers by a substantial margin this season with 509 yards after the catch.

“The quicker you get the ball in your hands, the quicker you can make the defender miss,” Thomas said. “Peyton’s been doing it his whole career.”

Tough, easy QBs to sack

A quick release doesn’t necessarily pave the road to NFL success. Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger are known in defensive film rooms across the league as “ball holders,” quarterbacks who will wait an extra tick for routes to develop downfield before throwing.

And they have accounted for three of the past eight Super Bowl titles.

But durability is becoming an issue for both QBs too. Since the start of the 2008 season, Roethlisberger has taken an NFL-most 234 sacks, averaging 39 per season. Rodgers is next with 220 sacks, 36.7 per season. There have been times this year when it seemed Roethlisberger was 31 going on 41. Rodgers is out with a broken collarbone.

Brady, meanwhile, has taken an average of 25.6 sacks his last five seasons while Manning has averaged only 14.2 sacks.

Injuries forced Brady and Manning to each miss a season. But they already have played long enough to ensure first-ballot election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Both are closer to 40 years old than 30, yet their fast releases will help them live for many more NFL days ahead.

2.33 Peyton Manning’s release time, in seconds, from snap to throw in 2013. That ranks first in the NFL. Last season, Manning ranked second with a time of 2.50.

2.54 Tom Brady’s release time, in seconds, from snap to throw in 2013. He ranks sixth in the NFL. Last season, he ranked first with a time of 2.47.

Source: Pro Football Focus