Peyton Manning has a confession to make: Tom Brady was right.
On ESPN2’s alternate “Monday Night Football” broadcast featuring Peyton and Eli Manning — which was excellent, by the way — Peyton took a verbal jab at Brady early in the contest for his vehement opposition to the NFL’s jersey number rule change. This season, the NFL is allowing defensive backs, linebackers and running backs to wear single-digit numbers. Brady has ripped the decision multiple times, saying it will now be difficult for offensive linemen to pick up their assignments.
“There’s a reason why you do every single thing in football,” Brady told the Tampa Bay Times. “And you study hard so you can put yourself in a good position. Now you get to the game, and you’re going to be confused the whole time because you’re rotating what a D-lineman used to look like versus a linebacker or here is what a safety looks like. Very pointless.”
Peyton Manning, Brady’s greatest rival and peer, expressed his disagreement with TB12 in the first half.
“The reason he’s saying that is, offensive linemen are used to accounting for games who were No. 90 or No. 50. They’re not used to accounting for a game who wears No. 9 or No 6,” Manning said. “That’s somebody the running back or quarterback has to worry about on a blitz. He’s worried about guys getting confused about who to block. My advice would be just to study that week that No. 6 is the middle linebacker, Tom. Something tells me you know how to do that, and will figure it out.”
That was one of many excellent lines from Manning, who alternated between dishing out keen insight and hilarious one-liners all night long. It’s too bad he’s made way too much money in his career to call games full-time. He’s great at it.
With that said, Manning isn’t afraid to admit when he’s wrong. Later in the game, after Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen (No. 6) raced through the Raiders’ offensive line and sacked Derek Carr, Manning retracted his original jersey number take.
“Alright Brady, you’re right, nobody thought No. 6 was accounted for,” he said. “I give you the win, Tom.”
While Brady and Manning were rivals on the field, the two all-time greats have developed a strong friendship off of it. This summer, Brady sat in Manning’s section for his Hall of Fame induction speech.
“By the time Tom Brady is inducted in his first year of eligibility — in the year 2035 — he'll only have time to post his acceptance speech on his Instagram account,” Manning said.
There are nine “Manning Casts” left this season. Here’s hoping Brady joins for one of them.
