Rogers: No, Eli Manning wasn't jealous of Peyton winning Super Bowl
This is 2016, a time where no image, snapshot or incident capable of being mashed into a Vine or captured in 140 characters is allowed to escape the parameters of armchair psychology.
And so social media had to sink its little tentacles into Eli Manning as Sunday night became Monday morning, lambasting him for his reaction, or lack of it, to the touchdown that put his brother Peyton on the brink of winning Super Bowl 50 against the Carolina Panthers.
The common theme that quickly emerged suggested the youngest of the Manning brothers was somehow displeased at his elder sibling clinching another slice of history and drawing level with him by securing a second NFL title.
Watch the video once and you’ll find the blank-faced response, believed to have been recorded as C.J. Anderson burrowed into the end zone to put the Denver Broncos up by the final margin of 24-10.
You’ll be surprised by Eli’s face because, hey, everyone else is celebrating, right? Actually, wrong. As human, our eyes and minds are trained to follow the source of greatest action. In this case, the lady stood next to Eli is clearly delighted by what she has just witnessed, smiling and clapping and bouncing with glee.
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Down in front two of the Manning children are celebrating too. A small girl clasps her hands together and circles them around her head. A young boy punches the air in triumph. All of these things are normal. It is what moms and small children are supposed to do in such situations.
A football player’s brain is different. A quarterback knows not to start celebrating in the biggest game of all until it is officially done and the silverware is in the bag. They’ve seen too much unpredictable stuff for that, or perhaps you've forgotten that Eli's New York Giants lost six of 10 games this season after leading or tied with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
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Also, notice the moment of hesitation as Eli shifts his eye sideways with uncertainty. Remember back to the play that gave the Broncos their only offensive touchdown.
Anderson ran into a pile of players from the 1-yard line and though the officials signaled touchdown it would have been easy to fear that the running back might have been ruled down inches short.
Eli later confirmed that he was focused on the rest of the game, telling TMZ Sports, "I was focused on whether he'd go for two and knew the defense had to get some stops."
If Eli was not particularly animated, he wasn’t the only one. While the front of the TV shot is a whirlwind of activity take a look at the gentleman on Eli’s left as you watch it. Look at the lack of reaction. Yep, that’s right, it is his father, Archie Manning. And he’s not smiling either. Are we supposed to believe he wasn’t happy too? Is he jealous of his son?
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Even Peyton's and Eli’s brother Cooper hasn’t etched the grin that would be seen later yet, pursing his lips together.
Look, if there truly was a shred of jealousy in the soul of Eli Manning we will never know. But such a feeling would go against all we know about football’s first family, they way they operate and the way they have built individual strength through the power of collective toil.
Later, Peyton Manning was perturbed when it was put to him that he had now matched Eli’s Super Bowl ring tally.
"We don't do that. That's not what we do," Peyton said of counting title. "Maybe you guys, your brothers do that. That's not what we do."
Sadly, the poison-minded global family of social media doesn’t share such motives.
Follow Martin Rogers on Twitter @mrogersUSAT.
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