While everyone else celebrated around him, Eli Manning stood stone-faced as big brother Peyton and the Denver Broncos scored a late touchdown in Super Bowl 50.
So why did Eli not give high fives and cheer like most of the people around him? He was thinking like a quarterback.
“I was just focused on whether they’d go for two and the defense had to step up and make some stops,” he said in a video posted to TMZSports.
The Broncos successfully converted for two and took a two-touchdown lead at 24-10. But Eli had nothing to worry about; the Broncos’ dominating defense did its job and Peyton claimed his second Super Bowl title.
Some speculated that Eli’s facial expression (which quickly became an internet meme) meant he was frustrated that he now has the same number of Super Bowl wins as big brother. He quickly dismissed that notion.
“We don’t do that,” he told reporters. “That’s not what we do. Maybe you guys, your brothers do that. That’s not what we do.”
Eli Manning celebrates…sort of #SB50 pic.twitter.com/ksYjaOlRzI
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) February 8, 2016