The season of Bill Belichick on our televisions has begun in earnest.
The future Hall of Fame head coach made his debut on the ‘Manningcast,’ ESPN’s alternate stream of ‘Monday Night Football’ featuring Peyton and Eli Manning as the New York Jets faced the San Francisco 49ers.
And he was classic Belichick – the media version. He has been informative and entertaining since embarking on this media path after the New England Patriots effectively fired him in January after 24 seasons and six Super Bowls. Belichick was no different on the ‘Manningcast.’
The chemistry with the Manning brothers was certainly there, and he is an ideal addition to the fraternal dynamic. His defensive genius blends nicely with the Mannings’ respective quarterback perspective.
Pretending that Belichick and the brothers hadn’t planned and spoken prior to Monday would be naïve. Any pre-show production didn’t make any of the conversation feel forced, however, and that’s always been the calling card of the ‘Manningcast.’
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Belichick will be a guest on all 11 episodes of the 2024 Manningcast. The appearances are part of a busy media schedule for ‘BB.’ He’s part of the weekly ‘Inside the NFL’ crew and is on Pat McAfee’s show Mondays. Peyton and Belichick have a show that streams Fridays called ‘The Breakdown with Peyton and Belichick’ which will preview the upcoming ‘MNF’ matchup.
Here are the highlights from Belichick’s maiden voyage aboard the ‘Manningcast’ express:
Eli, Belichick reach early peace treaty
The stream wasted no time in welcoming Belichick to the show, as he joined slightly more than two minutes into the game. Peyton showed his hosting chops with his Belichick introduction and the coach immediately found common ground with Eli, who defeated his Patriots teams in two Super Bowls
“Eli, can we have a peace treaty?” Belichick said.
Eli assured Belichick all of his jokes would be directed at Peyton. But he didn’t stick to it.
After Belichick mentioned that the post-Super Bowl party for the losing team is never a fun affair, Eli said: “I wouldn’t know, coach.”
Inside the coach’s mind of Bill Belichick
As the Jets marched down the field for the first touchdown of the game, Belichick noted the connection between quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Garrett Wilson. His ‘Wilson’ refrain sounded like a joyous version of ‘we’re on to Cincinnati.’
Eli gave Belichick a place on the ‘perfect prediction’ panel, but the coach actually hedged his bet by saying either Breece Hall or Wilson would score for the Jets (Hall ran it in to give the Jets a 6-3 advantage).
Belichick was quick to realize Wilson didn’t know what route to run as Rodgers changed a third-down play. He came back to it a bit later and said Wilson should be conferring with Rodgers on the sidelines to figure out the miscommunication rather than standing alone.
Belichick’s comfort on camera on display
The Mannings got a big smile out of Belichick by showing a Lawrence Taylor highlight while coming back from a commercial break. They showed many of the highlights from Belichick and Peyton’s duels dating back to the latter’s Indianapolis Colts days and that will be a theme throughout the shows, if one had to guess.
Belichick became a little ‘jargon-y’ and difficult to understand during his description of defensive line positions. It was apparent the production team was feeding Eli questions to tee up Belichick, but again, the exchanges all felt natural enough.
Always a stickler for details, Belichick made a point about early-season ball security and made references to games over the weekend.
Belichick said goodbye as the show went to halftime. It will be interesting to see if he stays for nearly the entire first half of each game as he did for this one.
‘Yeah, it’s awesome,’ Belichick said of spending the night with the Mannings.