They are damn near as funny as the Smothers Brothers, melodic as the Everly Brothers, and to football fans, as soothing as the Smith Brothers. Peyton and Eli Manning and their Monday Night Football Manningcast on ESPN2 have changed the way we are watching football’s most treasured television franchise.
And now for a little truth, I didn’t want to like the Manning version of MNF. After all, I’m a New Englander and an admitted Patriots fan. Minimally, Peyton and Eli cost Bill Belichick and Tom Brady at least four more Super Bowl championships. The problem is that these Manning men are really difficult to dislike.
The Mannings not only have changed the way we watch Monday Night Football, they have actually changed sports television. ESPN is now doing a similar show with superstar Stephen A. Smith watching NBA games with a variety of guests in a casual setting while his sister Carmen makes food for everybody.
This man-cave mentality has found its niche. The Manningcast is as close as most fans will ever come to sitting around and watching a game with a couple of legendary NFL signal callers. We already knew about their gridiron acumen of these two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks.
They come from solid football stock. Dad Archie Manning is an Ole Miss icon and a longtime NFL QB. Peyton Manning is arguably a top 3 quarterback of all time, and Eli did what was seemingly impossible for two decades, namely beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in not one, but two colossal games.
Both Mannings were extremely cerebral in their approach to playing, and both can still dissect an offense or defense, discuss quarterback cadence, predict plays before they happen, and analyze plays once they do happen. But in fact, the Mannings are approaching television much differently from the way they approached football.
As players, they were detailed, organized, and regimented. The Manningcast is a complete antithesis. It’s like you showed up in Archie’s living room and witnessed two of his sons bickering for three hours. In fact, these guys seem happiest when one is chastising the other.
We all knew that Peyton Manning was a television natural. Ever since his watershed appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2007, he was destined for media stardom. This dude hawks more products than Ron Popeil and even hosts country music award shows. He’s on TV constantly, like some inflated Ryan Seacrest clone with a massive forehead.
Conversely, if ever there was an NFL player you never thought would transition to television, it was Eli Manning. The dude said about four words during his 16-year NFL career. When he was riding high and winning Super Bowls with the Giants, he said nothing. When things got rocky at the end and people were calling for him to be benched, he said nothing. He had a slow, southern, “Aw Shucks” air about him. The only way he would ever be on television would be if they brought back the old Hee Haw show.
Eli seemed destined for a quiet and invisible retirement, but he’s not about that – starring in commercials for Frank’s Red Hot and Corona, creating his comedic vignettes in multimedia formats, and now serving as the true antagonist on the Manningcast. On this show, it is Eli who gets the acid boiling by chiding his brother and guests whenever possible.
This is what the Manningcast is all about. You can watch two guys rag on each other while sharing their endless football knowledge. While the Manningcast ratings have fluctuated since its 2021 debut, the brothers have consistently totaled over 1 million in total audience numbers.
Keep in mind that the main MNF telecast seen on ESPN and ABC is still the flagship version of the production and features the best play-by-play announcer and color analyst in the business in Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, respectively.
Still, for entertainment purposes, give me the Manning boys any day of the week. These guys book better guests than Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert combined. We are talking about A-list sports and entertainment personalities like Aaron Rodgers, Nate Bargatze, Tom Brady, Charles Barkley, Luke Bryan, Jon Stewart, Bill Parcells, LeBron James, Snoop Dogg, David Letterman, Dwayne Johnson, Jon Hamm, Bill Burr, Dana White, Will Ferrell, President Barack Obama, and Arnold Schwarzenegger who appeared with a goat.
Such guests don’t just agree to be on the show, they are begging to be on the show. Being a guest with the Manning brothers has become akin to being insulted by the late Don Rickles. You are going to get grilled, but you love it. In fact, you crave it.
The December 18 Manningcast featuring the Seahawks and Eagles was the last of the 2023 season. Moving from the left side of the screen two-shot to a full screenshot, Peyton demonstrated how it is actually harder to read a difference when in the shotgun formation.
Both quarterbacks also talked about the difficulty of throwing a football in the rain as they watched Jalen Hurts and Drew Lock. Each week, Peyton and Eli have their guests predict what will happen on an upcoming play. They do a really good job of turning an interview into a conversation.
At one point, Eli and guest Christian McCaffrey handed the broadcast over to Manning and started eating cheeseballs. While such frivolity is omnipresent, there is no doubt that the Mannings prepare for their broadcast. Peyton talks to coaches and players during the week leading into a game and Eli has a script of questions for guests.
Sometimes, the conversation gets a little muddled with three people talking from remote locations, but it all works. It’s like you’re in a room with a bunch of pals and everybody is talking over the other.
The guests are terrific, but perhaps the best part of the Manningcast is when Eli and Peyton are just watching the game together. Peyton especially has extremely emotional reactions to big plays or bad decisions made on the field. Running jokes include Peyton’s giant head and Eli‘s lack of athleticism.
Both Peyton and Eli play up their sibling rivalry and pummel each other with witty barbs. It’s like watching a game with Ray and Robert Barone, Wally and Beaver Cleaver, or Frasier and Niles Crane. It is fitting that the last Manningcast of 2023 featured a team from Philadelphia because the Manningcast is really about brotherly love.
When you watch Peyton and Eli, you feel the love of a football family. Most of us have nothing in common with the lives of Eli and Peyton Manning, but all of us have one thing in common with them. We love the game of football and we love to be entertained watching the game of football.
There have been a lot of really excellent football programs on television over the years, but very few have actually changed the game. ABC’s Monday Night Football with Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, and Don Meredith did it. The NFL Today on CBS with Brent Musburger, Phyllis George, Irv Cross, and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder did it. Inside the NFL on HBO did it. ESPN’s NFL Primetime with Chris Berman and Tom Jackson did it.
And now, the Manningcast has done it. Peyton and Eli Manning are football experts acting like football fans for football fans who think they are football experts. It is a beautiful mingling of innovation, insight, and inanity.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
