By now, you’ve probably seen the gifs and video footage of Eli Manning’s reaction to his brother, Peyton Manning, winning the Super Bowl this past weekend. If you haven’t, all you need to know is that the younger Manning looked incredibly pained rather than pleased about his brother’s performance. Recently, Peyton Manning appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and addressed the look that spread around the world earlier this week. Here’s what the Denver Broncos player had to say about his brother’s reaction.
Eli and I have always supported each other. I think Eli was analyzing the game and kind of into the game like I would be, as if he was playing it. He was just as happy, but it’s funny. When I saw that clip, I’ve seen that look before. I’ve recognized it in some other big moments in my life. He had that similar expression.
So, according to Peyton Manning, Eli does have an awesome relationship with his brother but just wasn’t in the right headspace to cheer with the rest of his family. I’m not sure I wholly buy that, but Peyton doesn’t seem to be particularly unnerved or upset about his brother’s reaction, so it’s certainly way less of a big deal for the football player than it is for the rest of the Internet. He also goes on to say that Eli Manning had the same sort of reaction when he learned his brother would probably be drafted by the Indianapolis Colts a long, long time ago.
While Peyton’s not upset at all, how could you not be amused watching this, though? It’s inadvertently hilarious:
The Super Bowl 50 game wasn’t the greatest ever played by Peyton Manning, or really, either the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers as a whole. If Eli’s head was in the game, he probably could have been thinking about the mistakes that many individual contributors were making, and perhaps he wasn’t super pleased about the way the game shook out. But as long as he’s still supporting his big brother, it’s all good.
You can watch the full exchange between Peyton Manning and Jimmy Fallon, below.
Jimmy Fallon's more often known for viral games than he is for awesome interview moments, but when he pulls out that Eli Manning cutout and places it next to Peyton Manning's face, we can't get enough. Be sure to give it a watch. And check out new episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET.
