Back when ESPN didn’t have a strong booth for “Monday Night Football,” the ManningCast was kind of a godsend.
The ManningCast was also fresh, fun and innovative when it debuted in 2021.
But now, in year six, the ManningCast is facing a significant drop in the ratings.
After not drawing a million viewers for any edition of the "ManningCast in 2025, viewership has continued to drop at the start of the 2026 season. Week 1’s ManningCast drew 705,00 viewers. Week 2 pulled in 661,000 viewers.
NFL fans don’t have the NEED to watch the ManningCast since ESPN has the best broadcast crew in the sport with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. That has undoubtedly hurt the ManningCast. In addition, alt-casts and watch-alongs are no longer unique.
Obviously, most alt-casts and watch-alongs don’t have hosts with the reputations of Peyton and Eli Manning. The strength of the ManningCast has always been and will always be, Peyton and Eli.
It would be fascinating to see the ManningCast experiment one week without guests. Just like the brothers cook and see what happens. I would think if you’re a big NFL fan and you have a good game going on or a game featuring a lot happening, like in this past Monday’s Giants-Rams game, you want to hear from Peyton and Eli. Not Bryan Cranston. No matter how big of a “Breaking Bad” fan you are.
While I don’t expect the ManningCast to shun guests, if I were in charge of the ManningCast, the first thing I’d do is get rid of the policy that you need guests who have ties to the teams involved in the game. Just get the best guests possible each week. Don’t overthink it. Was anybody in America clamoring to hear from Jeremy Shockey and Andrew Whitworth this past week because they were connected to the Giants and Rams, respectively? The answer would be no.
But at the end of the day, I’m not sure the viewership numbers for the ManningCast matter that much. Much like Fox is paying Tom Brady $375 million because it wants to be in business with Tom Brady, ESPN wants to be in business with Peyton Manning. Peyton and Eli do a variety of things for ESPN and can be found on other shows besides the ManningCast. ESPN is not just paying them for the 12 Monday nights they do the alt-cast.
It’s a good look for ESPN to have a Peyton and Eli broadcast on Monday nights no matter how many people are or aren’t watch.
Week 2 NFL Ratings Roundup
The NFL had some strong viewership numbers for Week 2.
The Lions-Bills games kicked off the week with 18.6 million viewers on “Thursday Night Football.”
CBS pulled in a huge number for its 1 p.m. singleheader window, led by Steelers-Patriots, with 19.3 million viewers.
Fox had the best number of the week for the 4:25 p.m. slot featuring Commanders-Cowboys with 27.2 million viewers.
“Sunday Night Football” on NBC drew 24.3 million viewers for the Colts-Chiefs thriller.
Week 2 closed out with Giants-Rams pulling in 19.4 million viewers for ESPN on “Monday Night Football.”
Other Stuff
• I don’t understand why anyone at “First Take” would ask Jordan Rodgers, who is a college football analyst, by the way, to go on television and discuss his brother, Aaron. Why was he put in this position? Who would take anything he says seriously? He’s not going to go on national television and give an honest assessment of his brother’s play. And who can blame him? What does he get out of going on ESPN and saying that Aaron Rodgers is just a medicore quarterback these days? What a baffling decision here by “First Take.”
• Jaxon Dart’s season-ending injury is obviously devastating for the Giants and their fans. How does it affect the networks?
It’s a mixed bad. The NFL wants to the Giants to be good and relevant because New York is the topi television market in the country. However, in terms of the prime time schedule, the Dart injury isn’t
The Giants’ next six games are regional games airing at 1 p.m on Sunday.
They have just two prime time games the rest of the season: Week 10 on “Thursday Night Football” vs. Washington and Week 16 on “Monday Night Football” at Detroit.
• Luke Kuechly, who I enjoyed on Netflix’s Week 1 Rams-Nineres game, will call his first game for CBS this Sunday. He’ll work with play-by-play voice Chris Lewis on the Raiders-Saints game.
• I ask this question regularly and no one ever seems to have an answer for me. Tell me again how cutting the cord is cheaper than cable when streaming services keep raising their prices every few months. Disney and Hulu are the latest to take more of your money.
• I’m a couple of days late on this, but I had to include this week’s “Bad Beats” segment after the N.C. St-Vanderbilt insanity.
• This was the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.
The Traina Thoughts Podcast
This week’s guest was ESPN’s Peter Scharger.
Schrager talked about getting his own show, "Big Day With Peter Schrager," what he wants the show to be, how much control he has over the show, branching out beyond NFL, whether he feels pressure to draw ratings and why he wants to lean on nostalgia. Schrager also touches on NFL topics including the Rams, Broncos, Chiefs, Niners and Jaxson Dart.
In addition, Schrager talks about whether he can keep up with pop culture while taking on the responsibility of having his own show, reports that he's not allowed to appear on Bill Simmons's podcast, ESPN taking over NFL Network, his bewilderment at the cost of flights, his new love for playing golf and an experience at an outstanding Long Island Chinese restaurant that is my go-to.
You watch the podcast below on YouTube or you can listen to it on Apple, Spotify and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
In Closing
This “interview” with Blake Griffin is one of the funniest things I’ve seen online in recent memory. The podcast, “Boy Talk Talk Show” is hosted by Paul Walter Hauser and Julian Sergi. It’s unlike any other podcast you’ve ever watched. The humor may not be for anyone, but if you like awkward, dry humor, you will love this.