Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning was one of the biggest threats to the New England Patriots' dynasty and revealed he took extra caution during games the franchise.
During hisESPN2alternate telecast of Monday Night Football alongside brother Eli Manning, the two-time Super Bowl champion discussed returning to the Indianapolis Colts locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium after it hosted the Patriots' Super Bowl XLVI loss to Eli's New York Giants.
“Every time I played against New England, I used to talk to my receivers in the showers,” Peyton Manning said. “Don’t talk about a play next to my locker because I know it’s bugged. I know it’s got a hot mic in there. We’re in the shower … very strange to have seven guys hanging out there in the shower, but take all precautions.”
The Mannings contributed to ESPN 2's alternate telecast of Monday Night Football for the second consecutive week, providing commentary over Monday's game between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in Week 2.
“I feel like the Packers were listening to Eli, you and I, the conversation we had on Friday, that [they] have to come out and run the ball,” Peyton said after Green Bay's offense established its rushing attack early in the game.
"I think our conversation was bugged, kind of like the Patriots used to do back in the day,” he added.
Earlier this year, Peyton joked that his mother, Olivia Manning, was responsible for the Mannings' biggest rival, former New England Patriots and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, missing out on several extra Super Bowl championships.
“If it wasn’t for my mother, Olivia Manning, he’d have 11 of ’em,” Manning said of Brady's seven Super Bowl championships via ProFootballTalk while discussing Brady's then-upcoming appearance on The Match, a golf event that saw the two compete against each other last year.
Peyton defeated the Patriots during the AFC Championship en route to Super Bowl victories with the Colts (Super Bowl XLI) and Denver Broncos (Super Bowl 50).
Eli famously holds a 2-0 record against Brady in the Super Bowl, leading the New York Giants to victories in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI.
Peyton's Broncos also defeated the Patriots en route to a blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, but it seems he's assuming New England wouldn't have fared much better, otherwise he would have joked that his mother would've prevented Brady from 12 rings instead of 11.
However, the Patriots ultimately held the edge, with a 13-6 record against Peyton during his legendary NFL career.
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