“Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick Were Lining Up Beer Bottles Like They’re O-Linemen”: When 2 NFL Greats Used the Pro Bowl as a Chance to Talk Football and Gain a Competitive Edge

Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick never stopped trying to beat each other, even when they were in Honolulu for the Pro Bowl and representing the same team.

Of late, the Pro Bowl has become a boring fixture. Because it’s sandwiched between the conference championships and the Super Bowl, no one’s really interested in watching what’s essentially a non-contact game of football.

However, this wasn’t always the case. There was a point in time when players didn’t decline their invites, when the game was after the Super Bowl, and when big hits were commonplace.

There was even a couple of times when Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick, obviously fierce rivals, teamed up in Hawaii. Both of them were on the 2007 and 2011 AFC teams, and apparently, they would strategically use their weekend to talk football with one another.

When Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick Had Beers Together at the Pro Bowl

Eddie White, Reebok’s VP of NFL team properties between 1996 and 2008, told the Indy Star about a moment he remembered from a Pro Bowl, most likely the 2007 one.

“We’re at the Pro Bowl one year in Honolulu,” he explained.” Bill Belichick is the coach of the AFC team, and Peyton Manning is the quarterback of the AFC team. After a morning practice, they go and have lunch together, just the two of them.”

“They’re sitting there at this restaurant, Belichick drinking Coronas and wearing a Patriots visor, Peyton drinking Budweiser, of course, and wearing his Colts visor. And they’re there for hours. These guys are lining up beer bottles, moving around salt and pepper shakers like they’re offensive linemen!”

“People would walk by, sort of stare for a second then get a ‘Don’t bother us’ face from Belichick or Peyton. To me it was like an NFL meeting between George Halas and Vince Lombardi back in the ’40s.”

“Years later I asked both of them, ‘You didn’t give anything away, did you?’ Both looked at me and gave the same answer: ‘Hell no.’”

If White is indeed referencing the 2007 Pro Bowl, this story is even more interesting because it would mean that just a couple of weeks earlier, Manning’s Colts beat Belichick’s Patriots in the AFC Championship.

Both of them clearly have respect each for other. Belichick was at Manning’s Hall-of-Fame induction earlier this year and the Sheriff recently called Belichick the greatest coach of all time.

Also read: “I want that seventh ring”: Tom Brady manifested Buccaneers Super Bowl run by almost switching jersey numbers