When it comes to Monday Night Football, the best place to be is usually ESPN2 for the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli Manning due to an abundance of reasons. The casual approach, all the laughs, and the endless list of great guests make for appointment-worthy television.
However, their Week 1 debut featuring the Denver Broncos vs Seattle Seahawks and the return of quarterback Russell Wilson was already set up for some fireworks, and boy did it deliver.
The crowd at Lumen Field greeted Wilson with an avalanche of boo’s throughout the night. He then found himself in a familiar position, only this time going against the Seahawks’ defense and a loud, hostile crowd. Trailing 17-16 late in the fourth quarter, Wilson faced a daunting third-and-14, he dumped it off to running back Javonte Williams for a 9-yard gain.
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Great, right? It set up a fourth-and-5 with a minute left and all three timeouts. This is where Wilson thrives and quite literally why he was brought to Denver. Call the timeout, draw up a play and let Wilson weave that magic wand he so famously did for the Seahawks countless times.
That assumption would be tragically incorrect. As Twitter collectively melted down, so did Peyton Manning as he could be seen continuously signaling for a timeout — just like many of us at home were — while visibly going through multiple stages of utter disbelief.
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Between the trio of Peyton, Shannon Sharpe and Eli Manning, it could not have been more clear how baffled they were as the time on the clock continued to drain before Denver finally called a timeout with 20 seconds left. The Colts and Broncos legend had his hands clasped behind his head, Eli was sporting that famous thousand-yard stare, and Sharpe simply shouted “what!”
The result was a 64-yard field goal attempt that, to the shock of no one, did not connect. For reasons that few of us have yet to make sense of, the ball was taken away from the quarterback who recently signed a $245 million contract extension to do this very thing in tight games.
Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett likely now faces one of the longest weeks of his life with local and national media.
Denver will host the Houston Texans in Week 2. Let’s just pray for everyone’s sake that one doesn’t come down to the final minute.
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