Why Peyton and Eli Manning are announcing Monday Night Football and who will be Week 10 guests

UPDATE: Peyton Manning’s production company, Omaha Productions, announced the list of guests for Week 10. The group includes Al Michaels, Phil Mickelson, Draymond Green, and Philip Rivers. You’ll notice no active player is taking part this week. I suspect the Mannings will mention the curse.

The NFL wraps up Week 10 on Monday Night Football when the San Francisco 49ers host the Los Angeles Rams at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET and ESPN and ESPN2 will each offer a broadcast of the game.

ESPN offers the traditional broadcast, led by Steve Levy, Louis Riddick, and Brian Griese in the booth, and Lisa Salters on the sideline. On ESPN2, we get the ManningCast, which is growing in popularity. It is an alternate broadcast of the game featuring Eli and Peyton Manning live from their respective homes. The brothers talk about the game, poke fun at each other, and bring on a different guest each quarter.

The full list of guests for Week 10 has not been revealed, but Adam Schefter is reporting Philip Rivers will be one of them. Rivers retired after the 2020 season and is currently the head coach at St. Michael High School. After Jameis Winston injured his knee, Rivers said he would listen if the Saints came calling for help. I suspect one of the Manning brothers will bring up a potential return.

The bigger question for this ManningCast is which active player, if any, will take part. Following Week 8, there was talk about how each active player who had appeared on the program saw their team lose the following week. And then, Week 8 guest Josh Allen went out with the Bills and lost a monster upset to the Jaguars in Week 9. It will be interesting to see if active players decide the curse is real or if they are willing to blow it off. And I have to think we’ve reached the point of the curse that Peyton and/or Eli might mention it to whichever active player might be on the show.

Regardless of the curse, the ManningCast remains a fantastic viewing experience. Flip over to ESPN2 when Monday Night Football gets going later tonight.