Tom Brady was roasted on Netflix on Sunday night. Peyton Manning made a surprise appearance to razz his longtime rival, but his younger brother and co-host Eli Manning was not in attendance. It arguably would have made just as much (if not more) sense for Eli to be there. Over Brady’s two decades in the NFL he became connected to both Manning brothers for different reasons.
Brady and Peyton were the two best quarterbacks of their era and their teams met 17 times in 15 seasons. Brady won the regular season series, 9-3, while Peyton had a slight edge in the postseason, 3-2. But it was Eli who took on Brady twice in the Super Bowl and beat him both times. Both Manning brothers will probably be mentioned in Tom Brady’s obituary, the question is, who will be mentioned first?
If last night was any indication, it will be Peyton who showed up to lampoon his longtime rival turned friend. While Eli wasn’t in the house, his presence was felt. He and his Super Bowl victories were referenced multiple times, culminating in the moment where Will Ferrell, in character as Ron Burgundy, told the gust of honor he’d “always be remembered as Eli Manning’s bitch.”
With a room full of contemporaries and comedians telling a thousand versions of that same joke for three hours there wasn’t really any reason for Eli to say anything. Still, he tried his own version on Twitter on Monday morning.
If Eli had showed up to deliver that line in person we might have missed out on one of the many other memorable moments the event created, such as Brady on Deflategate and Taylor Swift, Brady defending Robert Kraft and multiple incidences of Bill Belichick showing personality. It’s fitting that during the roast Peyton confirmed the news that Belichick would join the ManningCast later this year. Even in retirement, Brady continues to lose things to the Mannings.
