Are we all on board with the awesomeness of ESPN’s alternate Monday Night Football telecast with Peyton and Eli Manning running the show? Because we should be. Not only do you get real-time analysis from two pretty good quarterbacks, the Manning brothers also exhibit quite a bit of humor. At one point early in the Packers-Lions telecast, Peyton tried to predict a play, it was not that play, and Eli slammed him with a “Nice call, Romo” crack.
As the Packers drove to their first touchdown of the game in the first quarter, the subject of playing the Patriots became a thing, and both Manning brothers were more than happy to take shots as New England’s longtime practice of illegally taping opponents and trying to gain an advantage.
Peyton Manning on bugged locker rooms and the Patriots. pic.twitter.com/kK99qAIkVg
— Justin Groc (@justgroc) September 21, 2021
Peyton: “I felt like the Packers were listening to our conversation on Friday about… they gotta come out and run the ball. I think our conversation was bugged. Kinda like the Patriots used to do back in the day.”
Eli: Did y’all… we played the Patriots in that second Super Bowl in Indianapolis, and they practiced at your facility all week. Were you a little nervous going back into your facility the next year, that they didn’t have cameras in your quarterback room?
Peyton: Every time I played against New England, I used to go and talk to my receivers in the shower, in the far corner. “Don’t talk about a play next to my locker, because I know it’s bugged! I know it’s got a hot mic in there!” We’re in the shower… very strange to have seven guys hanging out there in the shower, but take all precautions.
Peyton did have his troubles against the Patriots — his teams were 6-13 against them, and he threw 26 interceptions against them, by far the most against any opponent in his remarkable career. So, perhaps Eli, who helped his Giants win two Super Bowls against the Patriots, could afford to be a bit more relaxed.