Peyton Manning is far from the biggest Patriots sympathizer in the world. In fact he and his brother Eli had just had noted Patriots superfan Bill Simmons on to torture him about Eli beating the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl. But as a former QB he still enjoys watching and calling games…and apparently can’t stand bad offense.
Reacting live on his “ManningCast” watch-along show on ESPN2, Peyton practically lost it when the Patriots inexplicably handed the ball off, or at least attempted to, with 11 seconds remaining in the first half, already in field goal range. Manning was calling for the Pats, who had penalties, turnovers, an INT and other headscratchers in the first half, to just be smart and preserve the field goal attempt. And then the botched RPO.
Fortunately Nick Folk, who had some issues with kicks over 45 yards recently in the windy outdoors of Gillette Stadium, banged through the 51-yarder to send the Pats to the half down three. But the sequencing there wouldn’t have gone that way if Peyton Manning were calling plays instead of Matt Patricia.
Maybe Peyton would be…nah. But now for the first time he feels Patriots fans’ pain.
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