Peyton Manning hasn’t played for the Denver Broncos since he won Super Bowl 50 with the team following the 2015 season, but he clearly still feels closely connected to the club.
After cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian forced and then recovered a James Cook fumble on the Buffalo Bills’ first offensive play of Monday Night Football, Manning said “That’s our ball!” on ESPN2’s ManningCast.
Eli scoffed at Peyton’s choice of words, telling his brother, “It’s been eight years.”
Eli made light of it, but Broncos Country loved it. Here’s a sampling of how fans and pundits reacted on Twitter/X following Manning’s reaction to the turnover.
i could quite literally sob rn https://t.co/HkgX6584VQ
— caroline (@carolineconnerr) November 14, 2023
Peyton Manning Will Always Be Bronco 4 Life https://t.co/pya3bN83bO
— Darius Wilkins (@BestKidWilkins) November 14, 2023
https://t.co/mfnTJkqjSf pic.twitter.com/jvPT46OT9B
— Sling (@SlingingIt) November 14, 2023
Peyton Manning no MNF, quando Denver recuperou o fumble: “our ball” 🥰
— Vinícius Lima (@vinicius_reis5) November 14, 2023
Peyton Manning said “it’s our ball” when the Broncos got a fumble pic.twitter.com/4bA5jaDZUQ
— Oluwajomiloju (@JomiAdeniran) November 14, 2023
"That's a fumble! That's our ball! That's the Broncos' ball! Did I say our? That's Broncos' ball!"- Peyton Manning
"It's been eight years… get over it."- Eli Manning
…
"That's a bad start for the Bills."- Peyton
"Yeah, obviously, Peyton."- Eli pic.twitter.com/ICqXlJobUa
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 14, 2023
PEYTON MANNING SAID “OUR BALL” ♥️ pic.twitter.com/R2SpSIp2xM
— Aadan (@JMurrayWrld) November 14, 2023
The Broncos are still “we” for Von Miller and “our” for Peyton Manning. pic.twitter.com/nrj58Fq5Ua
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) November 14, 2023
Between Von Miller referring to the Broncos as "we" and Peyton Manning saying "our ball" … it's just a good time to be alivepic.twitter.com/HzVcKNIaUu
— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) November 14, 2023
The Broncos, of course, approved the phrasing.
You can always say “our”, Peyton. 🫶 https://t.co/MgF5GVmCmG
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 14, 2023
Manning played for the Broncos from 2012-2015. He now works on various TV projects, including the ManningCast, each NFL season.