Peyton Manning’s clock management isn’t what it used to be

You can question whether Peyton Manning was a generational talent, but you can’t question his elite situational awareness at the quarterback position.

And being known for that elite awareness is exactly why it was so fun to see Peyton botch his clock management Monday night during the ManningCast. With the Baltimore Ravens driving near the end of the first half, Manning looked at the play clock and he looked at the game clock and he began imploring Lamar Jackson to run one more play before the two-minute warning.

Manning did the math and determined the play clock was going to run out before the game clock reached the two-minute warning. For the life of him, Manning couldn’t figure out why the Ravens offense was walking around the field with zero urgency. It almost seemed like Jackson and the Ravens weren’t looking at the same clock as Manning.

Peyton Manning’s clock management ain’t what it used to be pic.twitter.com/LzN9YfcQZc

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 23, 2025

“What are you doing, get back in Lamar, get back in, get back in! We gotta run a play, we gotta run a play,” Manning said frantically. “I think he thought it was gonna be the two-minute warning and he said we don’t have to run a play, but they’re gonna have to.”

As Peyton Manning was beginning to crumble under pressure, Lamar Jackson was walking around the field nonchalantly. And then it happened, the game clock reached the two-minute warning before the play clock expired, leaving Manning in a state of bewilderment.

This was essentially Manning’s Tom Brady holding up four fingers moment. The only difference is that Manning’s blunder came after he was long-retired and now watching a game from a garage turned TV studio. Brady’s blunder came at the end of a loss to the Chicago Bears.

“I was looking at the wrong clock,” Manning claimed in self-defense. “I mean, they’re right by each other!”

Jackson did go on to lead the Ravens to a touchdown on the other side of the two-minute warning, proving to have better clock management than Manning on this day. But that elite clock management wasn’t enough for to overcome the Detroit Lions, as Jackson and the Ravens lost on Monday Night Football 38-30.