GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – JANUARY 08: Head coach Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions leaves the field following a game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on January 08, 2023 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Lions defeated the Packers 20-16. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Lions head coach Dan Campbell is often a great soundbite, so to see him on the “Manning Cast” Monday night will be a treat.
Even beyond his “knee cap-biting” introductory press conference, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is a walking, potentially unfiltered, soundbite. And that’s a good, refreshing thing compared to many of his coaching brethren.
As a flip between channels companion to, or an outright replacement for, the normal “Monday Night Football” broadcast the last couple seasons, ESPN2’s “Manning Cast” with Peyton and Eli Manning is regularly very entertaining as they talk through the game and have an at-times ecclectic mix of guests.
Monday night’s final game of Wild Card weekend will feature the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Manning brothers will of course have their accompany thing on “The Deuce”, and they’ve announced the guests they will have via the production company Peyton Manning owns.
Dan Campbell will be must-see tv on the “Manning Cast”
Campbell will be the second of three guests Monday night, after Deion Sanders and before Tedy Bruschi.
The Lions became a great story as this season went along and they finished above .500, so that will surely be an easy topic of conversation when Campbell comes on with the Manning brothers. But Peyton and Eli always ask questions along other tangents, and Campbell’s well-known Metallica fandom is sure to be the root of one. How the Lions’ 2023 schedule will impact him being able to attend when Metallica plays Ford Field on their new tour in November feels like an easy follow-up.
Campbell in a more casual atmosphere, away from a podium, a field or even a meeting room (as seen on “Hard Knocks” last summer) is sure to be interesting on the “Manning Cast.” His place as a guest means he should be on in the second or third quarter. So set your DVRs if you’d rather watch the regular broadcast, or just turn it to ESPN2 when the second quarter starts and keep it there awhile.