Eli Manning

The ManningCast is entering its third year of existence, but don’t expect ESPN’s alternate Monday Night Football broadcast to add too many bells and whistles this season.

Eli Manning stopped by The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday and discussed the popular (on Twitter, at least) broadcast with his brother Peyton Manning, saying that there isn’t much appetite between them to change things up.

“We’ve stayed pretty true to what the original plan was,” Manning told McAfee. “We wanted to make it feel like what it’s like to sit on the couch with Peyton and I and watch a football game. That’s still the idea. We’re gonna talk some Xs and Os, we’re gonna make fun of each other, and every now and then, Pat McAfee pops in in the living room and we start talking with him or we’re talking with Snoop Dogg.”

Eli added that while he and Peyton continue to game prep beforehand, it looks different now from how it initially happened.

“I always tell Peyton ‘Hey, I’ll watch these games. You watch those and we can trade notes.’ I’ll leave Peyton like an eight-minute voice memo out of the notes, what I saw, ‘Hey if you want to watch it, here are four or five plays that are interesting.’ Peyton leaves me a 45-minute voice memo with the breakdown of the plays,” said Manning.

With one year left on the current deal between Omaha Productions and ESPN, it’s safe to assume the ManningCast will once again cover nine regular-season games and one Wild Card Weekend game. Peyton previously said that the idea of a full-season ManningCast doesn’t seem very likely.

“We thought 10 was a good number. We kind of run out of things to talk about after 10. Plus, I think it keeps our guests kind of fresh,” said Peyton back in November.

[Pat McAfee Show]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.