Mike Greenberg doesn’t need any more convincing. The curse of the Manningcast is a very real thing. He said Friday on his ESPN Radio show that even his wife has become aware of the superstition surrounding ESPN2’s alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football.
“My wife says to me ‘Michael, have you seen this about the Manningcast and the curse of the Manningcast?’” Greenberg told his audience. “So she’s come across it, so obviously this is not going to come as stunning news to most of you.”
Active players are 0-6 the week after appearing with Peyton and Eli. The Chiefs and Seahawks fell victim to the curse in Week 2 after Travis Kelce and Russell Wilson were guests in Week 1. The Buccaneers lost in Week 3 after Rob Gronkowski was part of the Week 2 show. The Rams lost after Matthew Stafford made an appearance in Week 3. The Buccaneers lost again in Week 8 after Tom Brady tempted fate.
Greenberg and Paul Hembekides, better known to fans of Greeny and Get Up! as “Hembo,” agree that nothing hammers home that this isn’t a coincidence quite like Week 9. Josh Allen was on the Manningcast in Week 8.
“We were having conversations about the Bills vs. the field in the AFC,” Mike Greenberg said, noting that he did not start Allen in a DraftKings daily fantasy contest because he figured the Buffalo Bills would be up by 31 on the Jacksonville Jaguars at halftime and the quarterback would be pulled out of the game. Instead, no one scored a touchdown and the Jags completed a 9-6 upset.
“The first five, you could talk yourself into that being a football thing, not the Josh Allen one,” Hembo said. “The Josh Allen one is the nail in the coffin. Those guys have a lot of power. That is the unlikeliest result of the NFL season so far.”
