One of the special guests during ESPN's alternate broadcast of "Monday Night Football" — the beloved "ManningCast" — was Tua Tagovailoa, the talented Miami Dolphins quarterback who finds himself in the NFL MVP conversation and happens to play one hell of a guitar, too.
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The following two-minute clip of Tagovailoa and the Manning brothers going back and forth really showed us all why this inventive concept has worked so well for viewers as a viable option. It always manages to offer a different side of players — Patrick Mahomes' game day underwear tradition, anyone? — and some of the best laughs are almost exclusively accidental.
Alas, here's Tagovailoa offering up an unexpected deep ball with Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven."
Tua Tagovailoa plays Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" on guitar.
And Peyton Manning sings... play-by-play of the Bengals-Jaguars game. 🏈🎸🎶#MNF #ManningCast pic.twitter.com/agamkzaInC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 5, 2023
Tagovailoa using the spot with guitar in hand was pretty great on its own. But, as usual, what preceded the Clapton song also assisted in the greatness.
First off, Peyton Manning — a Tennessee Volunteers legend — suggesting the song "Rocky Top" was an excellent way to begin a quick and well-executed trolling session with Southeastern Conference foe Tagovailoa, who won a national championship with Alabama.
But the Dolphins quarterback was just entirely too quick on his feet and began strumming "Sweet Home Alabama." And that's where the fun began at the expense of Florida State and its fans.
Tagovailoa: "Wait, Peyton didn't like that."
Manning: "Yeah, I like that. I like that. I respect that. I respect that. Florida State doesn't like that."
Naturally, this sent Tagovailoa into a spell of enjoyable laughter until responding, "Yes, Florida State does not like that. Oh man."
It's always nice to see two SEC legends join hands and gang up on a fan base already reeling after being denied an appearance in the College Football Playoff.
Anyway, when Tagovailoa began playing the very delicate sounds of "Tears in Heaven," Peyton managed to raise his own bar once again and thought it would be a good idea to turn play-by-play of the Bengals-Jaguars game into the lyrics of the song.
Just a preposterous combination of two very different things, with what sounded like a severely wounded duck leading the hilarious singing charge.
Manning's ability to improvise is nothing new to anyone familiar with his work on "Saturday Night Live" and a variety of other things. But the manner in which he does it — in finding new and ridiculous ways to surprise a national viewing audience each week — is truly something to behold.
The lighthearted segment with Tagovailoa also proved to be an essential element during the Bengals' 34-31 overtime win over Jacksonville, because watching Jaguars quarterback and leader Trevor Lawrence go down in excruciating pain was flat-out awful to see.
