NFL fans tuning into Browns-Bengals were in for quite a fright on Monday Night Football as Eli Manning reprised his memorable “Chad Powers” persona during the special Halloween edition of the Manningcast.
The 41-year-old Manning went viral last month after going undercover as Powers, a home-schooled freshman, at a Penn State football walk-on tryout. On MNF, the Giants legend opened the show again dawning the familiar blonde wig and fake nose, except the look resembled something more of a Michael Myers mask than the cleverly-crafted, Hollywood-level makeup job from his first appearance.
Eli explained to Peyton that he wore the mask earlier in the day to go trick-or-treating with his family, and kept it on after rushing to get ready for the start of the show. Of course, the innocent backstory, along with the proof on Manning’s Twitter, probably won’t erase the terrifying visual from anyone’s mind any time soon.
As for Peyton, who looked surprised in all the wrong ways by his brother’s costume, the Hall of Famer chose to wear a tight-fitting referee jersey as a callback to his Week 1 comments about NFL official Clete Blakeman. Manning explained that Blakeman mailed him an autographed jersey as a gag after he joked about the size of Blakeman’s jersey during the Broncos-Seahawks game.
While some viewers may have hoped Eli would commit to the act like he did for the Nittany Lions, the cameo was, unfortunately, short-lived as Manning removed the mask before the end of the first quarter.
If MNF is any indication, though, there’s a pretty solid chance that we haven’t seen the last of the dynamic up-and-coming quarterback.
