The Manning brothers have brought on some heavy-hitting guests over the first two weeks of their ESPN Monday Night Football alternate broadcast. That theme isn’t changing anytime soon as the duo gets set to welcome Alabama Football head coach Nick Saban to their Week 3 show.
The appearance is aptly timed with Nick Saban and Alabama facing another SEC test this weekend when they match up with Ole Miss. Former Rebels quarterback Eli Manning and Peyton are having Saban on for the majority of a full quarter during Monday night’s game.
The Cowboys-Eagles matchup features plenty of Saban’s NFL connections. Five former Crimson Tide standouts are starting in the game, including, quarterback Jalen Hurts, who started at Alabama for 2 years before moving to Oklahoma, wide receiver DeVonta Smith, offensive lineman Landon Dickerson, wide receiver Amari Cooper, and cornerback Trevon Diggs.
Former assistants from Saban’s tenure with Alabama are on display as well. Doug Nussmeier (Cowboys quarterbacks coach), Jeff Stoutland (Eagles offensive line coach), and Joe Pannunzio (Eagles assistant special teams coordinator) all worked with Saban at one point or another.
In the alternate broadcasts’ first two weeks, Charles Barkley, Russell Wilson, and Brett Favre made up a few of the names to pop in to talk football with the Manning brothers. Fans and critics alike are praising the conversations as a whole new way to get these athletes into a relaxed environment.
Eli Manning and Nick Saban have some established history with each other already. The younger Manning followed in his older brother’s footsteps with Eli’s Places, a spin-off of Peyton’s Places. Eli spent one of the episodes hanging out with Saban for a lake day tubing on his boat.
The brothers are aiming to keep their strong Week 2 momentum rolling after averaging 1.9 million viewers last Monday. The figure made their second go-round the highest-watched alternate broadcast ever aired on an ESPN platform.