USA TODAY International Edition
Manning brothers could be future of ‘ MNF’
Peyton and Eli make game a blast on simulcast show
I have seen the future of “Monday Night Football,” and it is Manning.
If you didn’t check your local listings for the NFL’s Week 1 capstone between the Ravens and Raiders in Las Vegas – tuning into ESPN by rote – then you missed the alternate simulcast on ESPN2, “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli.”
Amazing – especially since the Silver and Black’s dramatic 33- 27 overtime win didn’t require bells and whistles.
The retired quarterbacking legends and princes of the league’s royal family weren’t exactly on their basement couches, mainlining nachos or drinking the Bud Lights Peyton admittedly craved after Broncos victories.
What they were doing was breathing new life into a staid medium.
Humor? Check – Eli repeatedly giving his older brother the business, even asking if Peyton had sprayed Pam onto his shiny, prominent forehead.
Peyton predicted a 6- 11 season for the Raiders based purely on their gameopening incompletion. Sarcasm and self- deprecation were on display in roughly equal measure.
Football vignettes? Yup – Peyton gleefully recounting a story of then- 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh asking the wife of Manning confidant ( and then- Duke coach) David Cutcliffe to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich – to the apparent horror of everyone else in attendance that day – after Manning worked out for San Francisco during the 2012 offseason as he
tried to decide which team to sign with following his departure from the Colts.
Both Mannings recalled challenges of playing and succeeding in a new, unfamiliar football facility on a night when the Raiders played their first regularseason game at Allegiant Stadium ( aka the “Death Star”) in front of Las Vegas home fans. Peyton tried to help quarterback Derek Carr by urging Raiders fans to quiet down in order to help the home team’s offensive communication – rookie fans, ya know, like some of the ones Manning trained in Indianapolis.
h X’s and O’s? Of course – Eli armed with the Telestrator and Peyton with a white board as they dove in- depth on certain sequences, Peyton even donning a Ravens helmet and Jon Gruden visor as he called out plays and audibles. He downplayed the importance of converting on third down, saying the best teams he played for emphasized success on first and second down so they didn’t get boxed into bad situations on third. And after nearly four hours of football and side convos, Peyton was still tracking how often the Raiders defense had blitzed.
h Celebrity guests? Got that, too – Charles Barkley, Ray Lewis, Travis Kelce and Russell Wilson dropped by to sprinkle in humor and personal football perspectives. Wilson geeked out on insidebaseball observations and suggested alternate ways the NFL should legislate overtime and ties as the teams battled through a deadlocked fourth quarter. He even admittedly procrastinated on Week 2 preparation for the game against the Titans to hang out with the Manning Bros. until the final gun. Barkley? He discussed the outcomes of his Week 1 bets, thanking the Los Angeles Rams.
Just, wow.
Was there always even flow? No, but it was opening night.
Did a fire alarm go off in Peyton’s studio, and did Eli’s mic temporarily fail? Yes, though those issues quickly resolved.
If you were worried about injury news or missed tales from pregame production meetings and constant downand- distance updates, this wasn’t the broadcast for you. ( Admittedly, I felt guilty for not tuning in for the unsparing, incisive analysis ESPN’s Louis Riddick consistently provides from the network’s primary, on- site “MNF” booth.)
But if you desire fresh, funny, educational and unscripted, this is going to be awfully hard to beat after a traditional weekend of football.
I’m not sure I can go back to Riddick and Co. after this.