ManningCast

I’m going to make a bold statement. The Manningcast was the best thing to come from Covid. It is a brilliant alternative method to watch a game and brings valuable insight with non stop hilarity to a prime time event that welcomes both.

It was on the agenda to watch opening week but I fell asleep before it started. Tonight, I tuned in. Maybe Belichick had a little extra fire because he was turned down by the Falcons for a head coaching job, but he was dialed in. His commentary was first rate - his casual criticism of players missing tackles or not being in the right stance was a beautiful addition to the Manning brothers. It kept me very much engaged. He’s a hall of fame coach commenting on things a fair weather fan would absolutely never know.

Our doula stumbled in in the third quarter. And I was relieved to get some overnight support. The mind and shoulders could relax. So why not continue tuning in. I happen to be a fan of Miles Teller. He was a great actor in that orchestra drum movie, was in Spectacular Now, a very underrated flick, and captured all audiences in his role in Top Gun Maverick. Another bold statement - that was the best in theater movie in the past five years.

Miles (the actor) was the guest during the third quarter. Funny enough, he impersonated Peyton on Saturday Night Live as part of the Manningcast recently. How fitting. And big time honestly. For Manningcast to be on SNL. Miles (Teller) is a standard Eagles fan so had the fair weather non player commentary that us average joes can relate with.

In the fourth quarter, they welcomed Matt Ryan, who played QB for the Falcons for 14 years and is well respected in many circles. I should mention the Falcons were playing the Eagles. At Lincoln Financial Field. Ryan is a current CBS analyst for the NFL so he gets paid millions to analyze football and he’s shooting the shit with Peyton and Eli on a Monday night close to midnight.

Because it was a tight game, the analysis by 3 great quarterbacks was perfect but not as good as the high school highlights of Ryan and going through the story of his nickname “Natty Ice.” That part is the fun stuff. And the good stuff. Because you get comments from Eli like “So basically you drank beer in high school.”

Wild side note, but when I made personalized Facebook status shirts my senior year of high school for everyone in the grade, a subgroup of my fellow classmates all had on their shirts and in their status “Natty Crew”. So my friends and Matt Ryan both drank Natural Ice in high school.

The long story short of the end of this story is I woke up my sleep deprived wife in bed laughing to Eli and Peyton making fun of a fan after the games thrilling conclusion with a Halloween-y bright green painted face (scowl included), exclaiming “He’ll get two weeks out of that. He’ll just keep it on all week and be back next week.” That was one of several hilarious comments down the stretch.

Manningcast was absolutely fantastic tonight. And it was a great football game. With such a genuine and professional Kirk Cousins postgame interview with Lisa Salters. It truly was a deadly combination on ESPN2 this evening. Go back and watch the tape.

I’ve completely bought in. And am so glad we get to enjoy it. The Manningcast that is.