Alabama Athletics
Nick Saban Appears on Monday Night Football While Alabama Alums Shine for Eagles and Cowboys
One of the newest and most entertaining additions to the NFL football schedule is the Manning brothers' broadcast of Monday Night Football on ESPN2.
Each week, Peyton and Eli add analysis and commentary to the games while bringing in special guests. Among the guests during Monday's game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles were Matthew Stafford, LeBron James and Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
Right before Saban joined the program in the third quarter, former Alabama DB Trevon Diggs intercepted a pass intended for former Alabama WR receiver DeVonta Smith thrown by former Alabama QB Jalen Hurts and returned it for a touchdown. It was Diggs' third interception in as many games.
Peyton joked as Saban was joining the show that, "He's coached the entire NFL."
Other former Crimson Tide players in the matchup were Landon Dickerson for the Eagles and Amari Cooper for the Cowboys. According to Saban, at his last count there were 73 former Alabama players on NFL rosters.
Two drives after throwing a pick-six, Hurts led the Eagles down the field for an eight-play, 90-yard touchdown drive while Saban was still on the broadcast. Eli teased that Hurts was an Oklahoma quarterback, and Saban talked about the process of Hurts' transfer from Tuscaloosa to Norman.
"There's not very many guys that play college football that went 26-2 as a starter and get replaced (by Tua), and I think it speaks a lot to him that he stayed here for another year and really worked on becoming a better passer," Saban said on the broadcast.
The head coach called it a "joint decision" when Hurts was looking where to use his final year of eligibility.
"He asked me where he should go, and I said, 'Who has the best players?'" Saban said. "And he said Oklahoma, and I said 'That's where you should go.' For a quarterback, it's really important that you have good players around you."
Some on social media are seeing this as a veiled recruiting pitch for the Mannings' nephew Arch Manning, one of the top quarterback prospects in the class of 2023. Arch is expected to be in attendance for the Alabama Ole Miss game on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Whether that's what Saban was trying to do or not, this was just another night of work and recruiting for the coach. He said he doesn't normally get to watch the NFL on Sunday because he watches film from noon until around 10 p.m.
He also doesn't normally get to watch Monday Night Football but took a break from work to join Peyton and Eli while preparing for Alabama's top-15 matchup with Ole Miss on Saturday at 2:30.
