#How Eli Manning has helped turn Manningcast into a must-watch

Eli Manning isn’t a typical broadcaster. 

He doesn’t want to work in a traditional play-by-play, and that’s obvious to anyone who’s listened to him team up with older brother Peyton on the “Monday Night Football” broadcast the first two weeks of the season. 

“I think that’s like the whole idea,” Manning explained on the latest episode of the New York Post’s Blue Rush podcast.  “What’s it like to watch a game in Peyton and Eli’s living room?”

Eli said they’re changing up the entire broadcast style so viewers can hear what two of the NFL’s biggest household names are thinking during the game. 

“They’re sitting there and you’re in the middle and they’re watching the game, like, what are they talking about? What are they analyzing? What are they seeing?” Manning said.

The Manningcast is broadcast on ESPN2, while the traditional broadcast airs on ESPN. It has been a success thus far, with its audience growing 136% from Week 1 to Week 2. Their broadcast of the Packers’ win over the Lions averaged 1.9 million viewers.

“We’re not talking about the first-and-ten run for two yards,” Manning said of what you would hear on a normal broadcast. “Like you’re watching at home you really don’t say anything… you’re just kind of like ‘alright, I mean where’s the chips? Where’s the drink?’”

After 16 seasons in the NFL, Manning knows which plays are worth the chatter. 

“All of the sudden you know some drives get going and there’s a great catch, hey let’s go analyze that,” Manning said. “Or there’s a touchdown, you celebrate. ‘Hey, let’s go see what happened on that play.’” 

Other than scoring plays, Manning has his eye out for what things fans would want to have explained to them from his perspective. 

“On the interesting plays and, you know, if you see something cool, whether it’s the cadence or … a neat defense or a blitz… you try to explain those things,” the Giants great said.

The duo will be back for this week’s Monday nigher between two of Manning’s former rivals — the Eagles at Cowboys.

But first, Eli will be at MetLife Stadium on Sunday where he will be inducted into the Giants Ring of Honor. He spent his entire NFL career with New York, winning two Super Bowls and earning the MVP in each. 

At halftime during the Falcons at Giants game, the team will retire his No.10 jersey.