Phil Appears on Manningcast

Phil Makes an Appearance on Manningcast

As we wrote all the way back in Week 1, the Manningcast was and still is an electric factory, and as many have written since, it’s likely the future of watching sports. Get some former players in the same room + have them talk ball in a semi-unfiltered manner = profit. It’s that simple.

However, our criticism of the Peyton and Eli show 10 weeks ago is the same criticism now – there are too many guests and the show becomes too reliant on them. It’s not that the guests are bad (many have been quite entertaining), it’s that the guests take away from Peyton and Eli breaking down the game, which is what everybody comes to ESPN2 to watch for. Anytime a guest comes on, the Manningcast becomes an interview of the guest, which, quite frankly, nobody wants to watch in the middle of a game. 

Enter Phil Mickelson, who was slotted in as the second-quarter guest ahead of Monday Night’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and L.A. Rams. While it was an exciting prospect, one couldn’t help but wonder if it would just be the Manning brothers asking Lefty about golf, which we’ve heard Mickelson talk about plenty over the years. After their first guest Al Michaels was bounced early the second quarter, Phil hopped on and completely flipped the thing on its head. He began asking Peyton and Eli football questions(what a concept!), and social media began to stand and applaud in unison. 

The key moment came about two minutes after Mickelson hopped on the broadcast, when he asked Peyton what Jimmy Garoppolo, or Peyton himself, would be thinking about as they approached the line of scrimmage. Peyton proceeded to go full pre-shot routine Phil, running through everything that would cross his gigantic dome pre-snap:

Unfortunately, that clip gets cut off, because Peyton when on for another 30 or 40 seconds. Usually the sign of a good question. Hell of a job, Phil. 

Of course, there was plenty of joking around too, like when Eli asked if this “Manningcast Curse” is real. For those scratching their heads, all six active NFL players that appeared on the Manningcast so far this year have lost their very next game. Mickelson, naturally, had the perfect answer:

Lefty also went full Tony Romo while Eli was off messing around with his golf swing on his basement simulator:

Speaking of Eli’s golf swing, Phil obviously broke it down Konica Minolta biz hub style, referring to it as a “cute” little swing. Ouch:

Great stuff from Phil, who, of course, had the Wanamaker in clear view, as expected. Did you guys know he won the PGA Championship?

This article originally appeared on Golf Digest.