On the latest ‘ManningCast’, former Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, shared an interesting fact about his playing career.
Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. For 18 seasons, Manning dominated the NFL, playing 14 years with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Denver Broncos. In his career, Manning won two Super Bowls, and five MVPs, was selected to 10 All-Pro teams, and made 14 Pro Bowls. Manning was also a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Because of all of those accolades, what Peyton Manning admitted on Monday night’s ‘ManningCast’ came as a shock to many.
During the NFC wildcard game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Dallas Cowboys, Peyton and Eli Manning were hosting a playoff edition of the hit ‘ManningCast’, an alternate telecast of Monday night games with the Manning brothers and various guests. At the start of the second half, when Tom Brady and the Buccaneers had the ball, Peyton mockingly said “all those halftime adjustments really paid off right there.” Manning then went on to admit a truth about his playing career.
Talking to his brother Eli, Peyton said, “I don’t think I ever made a halftime adjustment in my entire 18-year career. I think that’s the biggest myth in football: the halftime adjustments. You go in, you use the restroom, you eat a couple of oranges, and then the head coach says, ‘Alright, let’s go!'” Eli then responded, “No question. You’re in there for like three minutes.”
Considering how much halftime adjustments are discussed, and the outside perception of teams’ locker rooms at the half, this admission took a lot of people by surprise.
"I don't know if I ever made a halftime adjustment in my entire 18-year career. I think that's the biggest myth in football- the halftime adjustments. You go in, you use the restroom, you eat a couple of oranges, and then the head coach says, 'Alright, let's go!'"- Peyton Manning pic.twitter.com/j17FWpXChq
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 17, 2023
Peyton Manning claims he never made a halftime adjustment
Peyton and Eli are pretty credible considering that both played at the highest level for a long time and were a part of three Super Bowl-winning organizations. However, they can only speak for their teams since every team does things differently. But, an NFL halftime is only 13 minutes. So considering the time it takes traveling from the field to the locker room and back to the field to warm up, there isn’t that much time to make really big changes.
However, the Mannings did receive some pushback from another Hall of Fame, Super Bowl-winning quarterback. Kurt Warner took to Twitter to express that he found Peyton’s comments “interesting” and also explained that his teams “added plays! Adjusted how we would block something! Pulled out plays we had used in the past! Talked about a different approach!” So it seems that each locker room may operate differently.
The most likely common approach is that the coaching staff and players recognize things throughout the game and they just relay the information and make adjustments on the fly. That’s seen every game day when players and coaches are looking at the tablets on the sideline. That’s probably how in-game adjustments look in the league as opposed to some magical sports movie moment where the team is gathered around the chalkboard at halftime and the coach figures out the perfect formula for a victory.
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