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Anybody else find it kind of odd that Peyton Manning has been more candid with reporters the last two weeks than he has in his entire fourteen-season career as an NFL quarterback?

Peyton has been quite chatty the last two weeks with reporters on his future with the Indianapolis Colts and his future as an NFL player. Manning has spoken out to the media for the first time in his entire career about in-house matters at Colts headquarters, specifically his frustrations with Jim Irsay’s management. While the honest is refreshing, the timing is certainly suspect.

Peyton’s brother Eli is on his way to his second Super Bowl. Ironically the game will be played in Peyton’s NFL home town of Indianapolis, Indiana. One would think that Peyton would make himself unavailable for the media, refusing to speak about anything other than his brother until after Super Bowl XLVI. Instead, he has bested his brother in headlines by a ratio of about 100-1.

It really is a fascinating story. Why would a guy that has always remained cool and reserved when speaking to the media suddenly turn into a loose cannon? If you are Eli or any members of the Manning family, I can’t believe you would be anything other than disappointed. Big brother is doing anything in his power to steal the spotlight off of his brother and quite frankly, he is not far removed from turning this into a Brett Favre-like saga during Super Bowl week.

Does Peyton have some kind of dislike for his brother? I never thought so. His reaction to Eli throwing the game-winning TD to Plaxico Burress in Super Bowl XLII shows a man who couldn’t have been any more proud of his younger brother. Has something changed? I’d say so. Maybe sitting on the sidelines with your career in doubt as your brother is days away from eclipsing you as the “golden” Manning is something that Peyton has a hard time swallowing?

I don’t know if you could necessarily blame him. Never at any point in the dual Manning career did the Eli vs. Peyton conversation ever sway pro-Eli until now. Peyton isn’t dumb and he hears the comparisons about how his brother is a better clutch QB and how a Super Bowl win could tip this argument in Eli’s favor forever. Am I being a little too dramatic? Maybe, but how else could you explain the fact that this guy can’t shut up during the biggest week in his brother’s professional career?

I was just as interested as anyone in the whole Peyton Manning-Jim Irsay saga. Yet now it is bordering on nauseating. I have no problem with player salaries but listening to this guy criticize an organization that paid him over $20 million not to play football in 2011 is worse than hearing about how badly Brett Favre wants to beat the Green Bay Packers. Hearing it during Eli’s Super Bowl week makes the whole thing come off as a little classless to boot.

So why is Peyton Manning trying to steal the spotlight from his brother? Is he trying to move the media distractions away from his brother? Maybe, but in the process he has only created more of a circus around his family at a time when he is best served to keep his mouth shut.

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