Peyton Manning Takes Jab At Tom Brady Over Number Change Complaints -- Later Admits That Brady Is Right
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady and Peyton Manning had plenty of battles on the football field, with Brady usually coming out on top. Now, Manning is even admitting defeat off the field.
Manning and his brother Eli kicked off their careers calling Monday Night Football in Week 1, giving fans an extremely entertaining alternate broadcast of Monday night's Ravens-Raiders game on ESPN2. Early in the contest, Peyton took a shot at Brady for the Tampa Bay quarterback's opposition of the NFL's new jersey rule, which Brady has lambasted since it was announced in April. Brady has made it clear that he is not a fan of defensive backs and linebackers wearing single digits on the back of their jerseys.
Early in the broadcast, Manning called out Brady's opposition of the rule, taking a jab at his former rival.
"The reason he's saying that is offensive linemen are used to accounting for guys wearing No. 90 or No. 50. They're not used to accounting for guys who wear No. 9 or No 6. He's worried about guys getting confused about who to block," explained Manning. "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."
Manning and Brady are no strangers at poking fun at one another, and it's usually all in good fun. And shortly after that jab Monday night, Manning even crossed over to Brady's side regarding the new rule.
Manning, somewhat begrudgingly, admitted that he was wrong -- and that Brady is right -- after Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen went through the Las Vegas offensive line untouched to sack Derek Carr. No one on the Raiders offensive line thought it would be a good idea to block No. 6 on that particular play.
"Alright Brady, you're right," admitted Manning, as he slumped back in his chair. "Nobody thought No. 6 was accounted for. He just sacked the quarterback.
"I'll give you the win, Tom," added Manning.
The Manning brothers were both entertaining on Monday night as they offered their insight throughout the game. Peyton was especially comfortable in the role, admitting that he used to pretend his helmet headset went out when he wanted to call his own plays on offense. That meant he was occasionally throwing the team's equipment manager under the bus for something that didn't actually happen, but Manning said he made it up to them with some fancy holiday presents.
Peyton and Eli will provide an alternate broadcast for nine more games during the 2021 season. Here's hoping the Manning brothers will be sharing their thoughts in Week 11 when Brady and the Buccaneers square off against the New York Giants.
