On Monday night, the NFL, ESPN2, and the Monday Night Football crew welcomed in a new duo to call games on Monday night-- Peyton and Eli Manning.

ESPN and ESPN 2 launched an alternative telecast to their usual Monday Night Football crew of Steve Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick.  The ESPN telecast was the traditional host, play by play, and color guy format.  The Manning Night Football on ESPN 2 brought you more in depth, behind the scenes, coverage that can sometimes be lacking-- and sometimes can be annoying.

Majority of the people were excited for an alternative and they had great response on social media.  Plus, they had an incredible lineup of guests-- Charles Barkley, Ray Lewis, Travis Kelce, and Russell Wison.

I am happy that so many people got enjoyment out of the alternative telecast-- I did not, however.

To be fair, I was watching the game while eating pizza and drink beer at a local establishment.  This type of telecast is not meant for a sports bar.  There is too much going on.  The times when they were showing picture in picture of Eli's rookie game against guest Ray Lewis's Baltimore Ravens while the actual LIVE game was going on was awful.

It just does not work.  That being said, this will be perfect for an at home viewer and I look forward to next week and putting it on in my home.  I am purposely not going to make the same mistake of going out to eat and asking for this sound to be on again.  I am confident that I will enjoy Manning Night Football so much more next week.

Here is a clip of the highlights from the Mannings last night.

 

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