Peyton Manning has had his battles against the New England Patriots on the field over the years, but it seems that he had one off of it as well.
During Monday night’s “ManningCast” on ESPN2, Manning was talking about his conversation with Bills quarterback Josh Allen this week. Eli noticed that Manning was keeping the conversation one-sided leaving out Patriots QB Mac Jones. Eli then asked his brother “Hey Peyton you said you talked to Josh Allen, did you talk to Mac Jones? Did you talk to all of the quarterbacks?”
“Well, I tried to talk to Mac Jones, and he was very respectful,” Peyton said. “He said, ‘Peyton, I want to do it, but can you call our PR director, Stacey? Because he kind of has to oversee all things.’ I said, ‘No problem.’ I called Stacey, very professional, I said, ‘Stacey, I’m talking to Coach Belichick, can I talk to Mac Jones?’ And I gotta tell you, I appreciate how they’re handling Mac Jones. They are trying to protect him, give him as few off-the-field distractions as possible, let him concentrate on playing football.”
Peyton then said that he understood how the Patriots were handling the rookie QB, as once upon a time his own GM, Bill Polian, handled him the same way in his rookie season on the Indianapolis Colts.
“So yes, I did get denied. It was the first quarterback I haven’t talked to, but I appreciate it,” Manning said.