Peyton and Eli Manning’s ESPN2 alternate broadcast of “Monday Night Football” between the Ravens and Raiders was a huge hit, with fans getting a unique perspective on the game with the two Manning brothers telling stories and providing advanced analysis as the game unfolded.
Throughout the night, they welcomed a number of guests, including Charles Barkley, Ray Lewis, Travis Kelce, and, most notably, Russell Wilson, who was present during the game’s wild ending, in which the Raiders won in overtime. The Seahawks quarterback had an interesting back-and-forth throughout the game that resembled three NFL legends chatting at a bar, but the finale didn’t need anything extra to make it more thrilling than it already was.
Wilson lent his mind to provide advanced analysis on both offensive and defensive play calls, assisting the Mannings in identifying what coverages the defense was in, when they were blitzing, what audibles the quarterbacks were calling, and more in far more complex detail than any traditional broadcast team.
Wilson, on the other hand, was candid and showed off his personality. As the game entered overtime, the Super Bowl champion admitted that he despised the NFL’s current overtime rule.
“This thing drives me crazy. We go into overtime and play the 10 minutes, and if no one scores, we all end in a tie and everyone goes home? How terrible is that?” Wilson said.
If the game is still tied after the 10-minute extra period, he then proposed an intriguing – and completely bizarre – alternative.
“The Raiders take the field for a second coin toss, which they win. So now, I get to choose, I get one kick. You get to decide whether we will kick it or they will kick it. You got to kick it from the 35,” Wilson said.
Your team wins if the kicker makes the kicks. Your team will lose if he misses it.
Perhaps that iteration of the idea is a stretch, but how about penalty kicks, similar to those used in soccer, where each kicker is given a set number of attempts from a pool of 35? That version of the concept might be just crazy enough to work.
Derek Carr’s OT third-down pass on the goal line – after a game-winning touchdown was called down at the 1-yard line – bounced off Willie Snead’s hands and turned into an interception. Wilson’s game-winning interception against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX was compared on social media, but the Mannings did not mention it.
They did, however, bring up Wilson’s wife, Ciara, who attended the Met Gala in a dress modeled after his jersey.
“[Ciara’s] got a ring that I wanted… I didn’t get it,” Peyton said, referring to when Wilson’s Seahawks beat his Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
“Well, I [want] a ring that Tom [Brady] has… I need to go get, too,” Wilson responded – referring to the fateful Super Bowl a year later against Brady’s Patriots.
