Jeff Daniels did his part to set the Detroit Lions on a winning path and break the curse of Bobby Layne. Now he’s joining the Manning brothers to talk about his favorite team.
Daniels — the award-winning actor, Chelsea native and noted Lions fan — will join the “ManningCast” broadcast of Monday’s Lions-Baltimore Ravens showdown.
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Daniels is scheduled to appear in the first half of the game on the alternate broadcast hosted by former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2.
The Mannings provide analysis of the game while interviewing guests across sports and entertainment. Comedian Bill Murray, Hall of Famer Randy Moss and running back Saquon Barkley were guests for the Mannings’ Week 1 broadcast of the Minnesota Vikings–Chicago Bears game.
Jeff Daniels talks to Peyton Manning before the NFC divisional playoff game between the Lions and Buccaneers at Ford Field on Sunday, Jan, 21, 2024.
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There was no alternate broadcast for the two Monday night games last week.
In 2022, Daniels took part in an episode of “Peyton’s Places” devoted to breaking the legendary curse that former Lions quarterback Bobby Layne put on the team. The episode included an old television clip of Layne claiming he tried to put “what they referred to as a hex” on the Lions after they traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers early in the 1958 season.
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The Lions, who won the 1957 NFL championship, won one playoff game in the next 65 years, until they reached the NFC championship game in 2023.
Alongside Peyton Manning, the Hall of Fame quarterback, Daniels tried to break the curse by reciting incantations over a bathtub filled with one of the hard-partying Layne’s drinks of choice, whiskey.
“It really was it,” Daniels said of the curse and its effects on the Lions in the episode. “It has to be it. There is a curse. If you take the curse out of there, we have to accept the fact that we’re this bad. It’s easier for us who are die-hard Lions fans to go, ‘There is a curse.’”
Daniels and Manning have remained friendly in the years since the episode, texting occasionally about the Lions, and Manning participated in Daniels’ song “The Curse of Bobby Layne” last year.
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Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jeff Daniels to join Peyton Manning on Lions-Ravens MNF broadcast