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The ManningCast has been an exciting time for fans. Peyton and Eli Manning have offered a new take on Monday Night Football that has grown in popularity. They offer a fun alternative to the regular broadcast, featuring brotherly jokes, deep insight, and some interesting special guests.
This past Monday for Week 8, the brothers featured current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, along with comedian Jon Stewart and retired NFL players Michael Strahan and Michal Irvin. Given the New York Giants were involved, it was a bit of a homer-centric broadcast, but we still got some useful insight.
While this could be a turning point for quality football broadcasting, the most important thing to come out of the ManningCast this season might be a curse. StatMuse noted on Sunday that the ManningCast appears to be cursing the active players who take part. Travis Kelce, Russell Wilson, Rob Gronkowski, Matthew Stafford, and Tom Brady have all appeared and then lost in their next game.
The Manning Curse is real.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 31, 2021
Every time a player comes on the ManningCast, that player loses the next game.
— Kelce on Week 1, lost Week 2
— Russ on Week 1, lost Week 2
— Gronk on Week 2, lost Week 3
— Stafford on Week 3, lost Week 4
— Brady on Week 7, lost Week 8 pic.twitter.com/i5mQ29cJyJ
Could we see Josh Allen succumb to the curse? The Bills travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend. The Jaguars are an awful team, so they could use any help they can get to beat the AFC East-leading Bills. But will this curse be enough to overcome the current 14-point spread at DraftKings Sportsbook?
It can be tough laying double digits in the spread, so the curse might be enough to push some folks over the top in backing the Jaguars. I don’t know about taking them +575 on the moneyline, but covering that 14 might not be the worst idea in the world coming out of Allen’s ManningCast appearance.
Of course, when the Bills stomp the Jaguars by three or four touchdowns, we’ll all look back on this and laugh at our naivete.