Peyton Manning said during the season he and younger brother Eli usually talk one or two times a week, both having fairly busy schedules as starting quarterbacks in the NFL.
When they do connect, Peyton often catches Eli in the middle of something quite specific.
“He takes the cerebral part very seriously,” Peyton said today. “I know that just from being around him. Usually when I’m calling to talk to him he’s studying. That’s what a quarterback’s supposed to do, in my opinion.”
That’s what Peyton has done for 13 years in fashioning a Hall of Fame career with the Colts. Eli is in his seventh season with the Giants and, like his older brother, has a Super Bowl championship and Super Bowl MVP to show for all his hard work. On Sunday, the two meet for the second time in their professional careers in what must be dubbed Manning Bowl II at Lucas Oil Stadium. The first time they met, the 2006 season-opener at Giants Stadium, the Colts beat the Giants 26-21 and both Manning’s played well.
This second encounter comes in the second game of the season, which pleases both the participants.
“I know both of us were very relieved, we knew we were going to play in this season but it wasn’t the opener,” Peyton said. “Four years ago we had all the questions all preseason, the fact it’s week two, we were able to focus on our first game and now I understand it’s week two and I understand the questions, the fact that it’s just one week and after this week it will be over.”
Eli at 29 is five years younger than Peyton. Eli was in just his third season for the first Manning Bowl and was in the developmental stages of his career.
“There’s a huge difference,” Peyton said. “Certainly a lot has happened since that game four years ago.”
Since that game, Eli has blossomed into a franchise quarterback and taken the Giants to the heights in 2007. Both are eager to downplay the personal involvement in this upcoming game but it’s a nationally-televised affair and it’s not every day brothers start at quarterback against each other.
“He and I are very close friends as well as brothers,” Peyton said. “Just like the same for me and my brother Cooper. All three of us get along well. I don’t give advice to Eli unless he asks for it. There are certain things I ask him about too, football or whatnot. He certainly is a grown man and he’s got a lot of experience. I just try to be there for him when he needs me and I know it’s the same way he’s there for me.”
When they speak, the subject is not always football but it sometimes is and Peyton trusts Eli when it comes to talking the game.
“I think Eli’s at the top,” Peyton said. “I’ve never said I know it better than anybody else, sometimes people assume things or give me credit for things that may not necessarily be true.
Eli’s an experienced NFL quarterback who plays probably in the toughest division in football, sees tremendously complicated defenses every single week. He’s seen three different coordinators on his own team the past three years, every day in practice you’re seeing different looks and he hasn’t missed a start. It would be hard to find a guy who knows more about defenses and is as experienced as Eli is.”
