1. When die-hard Patriots fan Bill Simmons joined the ManningCast on Monday night during New England’s game against Arizona, it was no surprise that Bill Belichick was a big topic of discussion.
And thank goodness, because it led to Peyton dropping one hell of a story.
“I played for Belichick one time in a Pro Bowl,” Manning explained to Simmons and Eli, “and they were telling stories about the times he was the head coach of the Pro Bowl. One time he picked Peter Boulware because he knew Art Modell would have to pay Boulware a $1 million bonus if Boulware made the Pro Bowl. Belichick hated Modell.
You’ll recall that Modell had fired Belichick in 1996 after he’d spent five seasons as coach of the Browns.
Manning also shared a story about how Belichick once picked Chargers long snapper David Binn to the Pro Bowl because he was dating Pamela Anderson at the time.
“He picked David Binn, who was a long snapper, because he was dating Pamela Anderson, and Bill thought the players would like seeing Pamela at the pool in Hawaii,” Manning explained. “She didn’t come. But that’s a cool Belichick story.”
Bill Belichick: always plays chess while everyone else is playing checkers.
2. Absolutely love Kyle Brandt including Kenny Smith and Shaq in this week's edition of his popular "Angry Runs" segment on Good Morning Football beginning at the five-minute mark below.
3. If you’re someone who gets a kick out of it when microphones pick up an f-bomb during a game, you should be bowing down to Mac Jones today.
4. Here are the broadcast crews for the three Saturday games that will air on NFL Network this week:
Colts at Vikings, 1 p.m. ET: Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson
Ravens at Browns, 4:30 p.m. ET: Rich Eisen, Kurt Warner
Dolphins at Bills, 8:15 p.m. ET: Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez
5. Obviously Tom Brady is a legendary figure in sports history, but it’s still wild to see the reaction of opposing players when they meet the GOAT.
6. A brand-new SI Media Podcast dropped this morning, and this week’s guest is The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Richard Deitsch. Topics covered include:
- Fox's World Cup coverage
- Jon Heyman whiffing on Aaron Judge
- Adam Schefter doing PR for Deshaun Watson
- Is TNF on Amazon a success?
- Athletes as podcasters
- Good Morning America scandal
- ManningCast
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
