Eli and Peyton are bros. Literally. (Getty Images)

By Will Brinson

It's not crazy to think that Peyton Manning could've been jealous after watching his younger brother Eli Manning win a Super Bowl at Peyton's home stadium in Indianapolis. But Peyton says he's not and that he "couldn't be happier" for Eli.

That's according to Mike Chappelle of the Indianapolis Star, who caught up with Peyton after the Giants Super Bowl win on Sunday.

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"I couldn't be happier for Eli, prouder of Eli," Peyton said. "I want nothing but the best for him. I think he will continue to win more Super Bowls. There is no envy whatsoever in our relationship. He deserves this."

Peyton was asked if there might be a bit of one-upmanship taking place with their relationship, now that Eli has two Super Bowl rings and Peyton "only" has one. But he insisted that's not the sort of dynamic that goes on in the Manning family.

"Eli and I don't play that game," Peyton said. "The relationship of Eli, Cooper and I is not about trying to rub it in or anything like that. It's about love, nothing but love."

We wrote after the game that, regardless of what Peyton says, it still stinks to see your little brother with more Super Bowl wins than you. And we still believe that. But at the same time, it's not like Peyton's endured some horrible NFL career, floundering in Eli's shadow.

If anything, Peyton's probably thrilled that the world's ready to take Eli out of his shadow; if there's one thing that male siblings understand even more than a rivalry, it's protecting one another.

Eli's safe from criticism for quite a while now. In fact, his only concern might be getting asked too often what Peyton will do in the future.

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Revisiting the week that was in Indianapolis: Super Bowl XLVI. (Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com)

By Will Brinson & Ryan Wilson

The Giants are champs, the Pats are left wondering where it all went wrong, and the 2011 NFL season is officially in the books.

After a whirlwind week of press conferences, Media Day, red-carpet events and, of course, the Super Bowl, we recap our eight days in sunny, temperate Indianapolis (seriously, the only thing better than the weather was the hospitality). 

We start off by talking about the pass -- you know, the one that Wes Welker couldn't pull in and that probably changed the outcome of the game. We also discuss Tom Brady's suddenly tarnished legacy. Somehow, a three-time Super Bowl winner has gone from hero to goat in 20 minutes of uninspiring football (not helping: his supermodel wife blasting the Pats' receivers for not being able to catch). 

And no conversation of Super Bowl week in Indy would be complete without a mention of Peyton Manning and his future, so we hit that too.

Also worth mentioning: we "worked" the Playboy Party Friday night and the highlight of the evening for Brinson was meeting DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. We wish we were making this up.

All right, let's get to this...

(Did we mention that you should subscribe to the podcast via iTunes? And if you can't listen to the podcast below, download it here. And if you'd like to keep working while listening in your browser, pop that puppy out in a new tab here.)


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We've seen this cartoon before: player smiles, signs for big bucks, then underperforms, hates life. (CBSSports.com illustration)

By Ryan Wilson

There were two primary storyline during Super Bowl week in Indianapolis: the Patriots-Giants matchup and the day-to-day (and sometimes hour-to-hour) Peyton Manning soap opera. The Giants won in dramatic fashion, which elicited all types of responses. Some people couldn't comprehend how the Pats receivers could drop so many passes. And others relished the fact that they played a part in beating the Giants during the regular season not once but twice.

The former, Tom Brady's super model wife Gisele Bundchen, and the latter, Redskins returner Brandon Banks, have both taken criticism for their observations. Banks went on the Mike Wise show to explain himself.

“I wasn’t bragging at all,” Banks said, according to the D.C. Sports Bog. “I was going for the Giants, I wanted a team from the NFC East to win. It made me feel better that a team that we were capable of going out there and competing with and beating, that they won a Super Bowl, something that I want to do in my career.”

Banks says he thinks the Redskins can win the Super Bowl too, but that's what he's supposed to say, even if he doesn't believe it. Whatever, the Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg unearths a staggering statistic:

With the Giants winning the Super Bowl, that means the past 12 NFL champs have a combined 52 regular-season losses. And, remarkably, a full 11.5 percent of those losses — six games in all — came at the hands of the Washington Redskins, one of the stinkiest NFL teams of the past 12 years.

No other team has as many wins over Super Bowl champs in that span. In fact, only two other teams have even four wins over Super Bowl champs in that span: Dallas and Miami.

All that's missing? Why, a quarterback, of course. And while the previous sentence can't be refuted, who should replace John Beck and Rex Grossman is still up for debate. The word on the street is that organization is "expected to pursue" Manning.

This certainly seems reasonable -- except that not everyone agrees. Take the 'Skins last franchise quarterback, Joe Theismann, for example.

“It’s not a good idea, it’s not a bad idea — It’s a horrific idea,” he said during an appearance on told 106.7 The Fan last week. “It would be one of the poorest things that we could do as a franchise. Are we gonna go find another guy for just a couple of years again? Haven’t we done this before? Haven’t we seen this act before? And by the way, if you get Peyton Manning, don’t you have a concern about protecting him? Don’t you have a concern about who he throws the football to?"

The man responsible for giving us "Norman Einstein" makes a lot of sense. Manning is a prototypical Dan Snyder free-agent acquisition: one-time great player clearly on the downside of a Hall of Fame career.

“We’re tired of looking for stop gaps,” Theismann continued. “It’s time to draft one of your own, or make a deal for a young one of your own, and nurture him, and then put the players around him. If we’re gonna be 5-11, if we’re gonna be 6-10, let’s do it with somebody who’s [learning as he goes], instead of guys that have been here, making mistakes.”

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Sir Charles should've bet that the first score of the Super Bowl would be a safety. (Getty Images)

By Ryan Wilson

It's too bad Charles Barkley didn't bet that the first score of Super Bowl XLVI would come by way of a safety. It would've offset the $100,000 he eventually lost.

During a radio appearance before the game, Sir Charles explained his decision to put 100 large on New England.

“I’m a big believer in ‘In God We Trust,’ and I trust in Belichick, bro," Barkley said via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "I’m going with the New England Patriots. … I’m almost changed the plane to go to Vegas because I wanted to get the 2.5. … Three scares the hell out of me.”

Barkley was also asked about a host of prop bets, none of which he got right (though he pushed on two!), and predicted a final score of 31-17, New England.

"I tell you, I don’t think it’s going to be close," he said. "As quiet as it’s kept, New England had the worst defense ever to make the Super Bowl, but if you look back at the playoffs, they’ve been one of the best defenses in the playoffs and I think that’s going to continue.”

Well, Chuck was right about one thing: the Pats' defense wasn't the reason they lost. It was some combination of Justin Tuck, Tom Brady and Wes Welker.

Barkley weighed in on the second biggest storyline of Super Bowl week, too: Peyton Manning, who appears to have played his last game for the Colts.

“My first opinion is I don’t think Peyton Manning should play football again. You’re talking about a neck," Barkley said. "I know he’s got a couple young twins. I don’t think he should play football at all. But I think the Colts have got to let him go. You can’t pay two quarterbacks. First of all, the team’s not going to be very good next year, to be honest with you, so why would he want to play on a bad team?”

And that's a question we could very well be asking when Peyton signs with the Dolphins or Redskins. The answer, obviously: they paid him a ton of money.

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Shanahan and Peyton together: What could go wrong? (Getty Images)

By Will Brinson

INDIANAPOLIS -- Between now and March 8, there will be plenty of speculation about what teams will be interested in Peyton Manning if and when he hits the open market. We've already talked about the possibility of Miami, and now we get to mention the other team that everyone expects to pursue Manning: the Redskins.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Washington is "expected to pursue" Manning if he becomes a free agent.

This shouldn't be a surprise. For starters, this is the Redskins. If someone with a big name is available, they'll be rumored as a potential team of interest. But that's exacerbated in this instance, because the Redskins rolled out Rex Grossman and John Beck as their starting quarterbacks in 2011.

The result was predictably disastrous, as the Redskins won just five games (oddly, two were over the NFC champion Giants) and finished dead last in the NFC East.

Is Manning the best fit in Washington, though? Mike and Kyle Shanahan like mobile quarterbacks who can roll out of the pocket. Manning is the opposite of that. Would the Shanahans change up their offense to fit Manning? If they're interested in landing him, they'd almost have to.

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Brees talks to the media about his Offensive Player of the Year Award while Manning announces the NFL Player of the Year. Indianapolis, February 4, 2012. (Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com)

By Ryan Wilson

Peyton Manning, who has been in the news almost as much as his brother this week, finally made a public appearance Saturday night at the NFL Awards Show. He didn't say anything new about his future in Indianapolis -- Manning was there to present the 2011 NFL Most Valuable Player award -- although reports Sunday from ESPN's Adam Schefter indicate that should the Colts and Manning part ways in the coming weeks (and that looks like a real possibility), the future Hall of Fame quarterback would be willing to agree to an incentive-based contract for little or no guaranteed money.

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The thinking: Manning would find a new home as quickly as possible, put his Colts playing days behind him, and get on with the rest of his career. Schefter says that incentives could include roster bonuses due on the first day of the regular season, or bonuses tied to playing time.

A source tells ProFootballTalk.com that such measure won't be necessary because Manning, completely healthy or not, will be in such demand that those teams interested in his services will set demand. If the Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross truly is "infatuated" with Manning, and the Redskins and Daniel Snyder are similarly intrigued, that's reason enough to think that he won't have to concern himself with performance-based incentives.

As it stands, Manning is still a member of the Colts. He's due a $28 million roster bonus on March 8 but unless something changes between now and then, there's no way owner Jim Irsay makes good on that payment given that Manning's health is still a huge question.

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Peyton's next trip to Miami might look a little different. (Getty Images)

By Will Brinson

The idea of Peyton Manning playing for a team other than the Colts in 2012 seems like a lock after all the back and forth between Manning's camp and Jim Irsay in Indianapolis this week. One team that's always mentioned as a possible landing spot for Manning is the Miami Dolphins, and over the past two days, the notion of Manning's gotten revved up a little bit.

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There's a report Sunday from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, where Jackson writes that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is "infatuated with the idea of signing" Manning.

Adding fuel to the fire is a report from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the Dolphins are on the "short list" of teams that Manning has interest in, if/when he leaves the Colts.

The marriage makes sense: Manning owns a condo in South Beach so he's familiar with the area. The Dolphins have a decent set of weapons headlined by Brandon Marshall and Reggie Bush. Miami already has a good defense.

Much still has to unfold with Manning, and the pursuit of No. 18 could potentially blow up in the Dolphins face. Manning could be released as late as March 8; free agency begins on March 13. If Ross and Jeff Ireland chase Manning and fail to get him, Packers backup and would-be free-agency cash cow Matt Flynn could sign elsewhere.

That's not a situation that will make anyone's heart flutter in South Beach.

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Your 2012 NFL MVP is Rodgers. (Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com)

By Will Brinson

INDIANAPOLIS -- Aaron Rodgers won the 2012 NFL MVP Award on Saturday night with Peyton Manning presenting him the hardware at the first-ever NFL Honors awards in Indy, the night before the Super Bowl.

"Looking forward to seeing you on the field again," Rodgers said as Peyton walked off the stage, before thanking his teammates and fans.

Rodgers was in a close race with Drew Brees for MVP late in the season but blew away the Saints quarterback in the voting, as he received 48 of a possible 50 first-place votes.

Brees got the consolation prize of winning the AP Offensive Player of the Year Award on Saturday night in a season where he broke Dan Marino's record for passing yards in a single season, throwing for 5,676 yards and a record-setting 468 completions. Brees received 43 votes for the award.

"Some pretty remarkable things happened that we were all lucky to be a part of," Brees said, reminiscing about his season. "The older you get the more you appreciate the opportunities and the moments."

The Ravens Terrell Suggs landed the award for Defensive Player of the Year Suggs, also known as T-Sizzle, delivered the funniest line of the night during his acceptance speech.

"I want to thank my parents for deciding to go through with it," Suggs said.

Newton is the NFL's rookie of the year. (Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com)

Cam Newton, the Panthers star quarterback, was the first award-winner at the first-ever NFL Honors ceremony, netting the AP Rookie of the Year Award in Indianapolis at the Super Bowl. He also won the Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award, voted on by fans. Broncos linebacker Von Miller won the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Newton received 47 of 50 votes from AP voters; Miller received 39 of 50 possible votes. Andy Dalton and Aldon Smith were the respective runner-ups.

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"Even with the lockout, that still didn't stop my process for preparing for the NFL," Newton said. "Whether it with Chris Weinke, George Whitfield, IMG -- everyone had a major role in the success I had this year."

Miller recorded 11.5 sacks with the Broncos and helped lead them to a shocking AFC West division title. Newton broke a number of different records, throwing for the most passing yards (4,051) by a rookie in NFL history, breaking the mark that Peyton Manning set in 1998. Newton also set the record for most rushing touchdowns by any quarterback, scoring 14 times on the ground.

Jim Harbaugh led the 49ers to a 13-3 record and garnered 45 of 50 votes for the AP Coach of the Year Award. Mike McCarthy netted three votes and Denver's John Fox received two.

Matthew Stafford received 21 of 50 votes in winning the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award. The presumed favorite, Alex Smith, only finished third.

Ravens center Matt Birk was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year.

"This award is not about the recipient, but rather a celebration of the decades-long tradition of NFL players using their unique platform to touch lives and make a positive impact in the communities in which they work and live," Birk said.

He wouldn't comment on whether or not he would return to play again in 2012.


Follow all of CBSSports.com's Full Super Bowl Coverage (Photo credit: Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com)

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