Giants Now: Best of Week 10 ManningCast

ESPN's alternate "Monday Night Football" broadcast featuring Eli and Peyton Manning has been a smash hit this season.

Each week, the Manning brothers welcome a star-studded list of guests to the broadcast to talk football and a range of other topics.

During the Week 10 ManningCast, Eli and Peyton began with a conversation with all-time broadcasting great Al Michaels, who has been serving as the play-by-play announcer for Sunday Night Football since 2006.

They then welcomed golf legend Phil Mickelson to the broadcast, who made sure to crack a few jokes about Eli's golf swing.

In the second half of Monday's game between the Rams and 49ers, three-time NBA champion Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors came on the show to discuss his love of football.

The final guest on the show was former Chargers and Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, who talked about his retirement and coaching high school football.

All four guest appearances on Monday's ManningCast broadcast can be found in the videos below.

Saquon Barkley, Andrew Thomas eye return vs. Bucs

There was one topic on everybody’s mind when the Giants returned from their bye week on Monday: the status of injured players.

In particular, the questions centered on running back Saquon Barkley and left tackle Andrew Thomas. A week ago, coach Joe Judge said the team was "hopeful" the key offensive pieces could return for Monday Night Football in Tampa Bay, the Giants' first game back after entering the break with a 3-6 record while winning two of their last three games. That notion has not changed.

"Andrew will move around a little bit with the trainers today," Judge said before Monday's light practice as they transitioned back from "vacation mode" and got the players moving. "We'll kind of see him over the next couple of days in terms of progress he's making. It's been moving in the right direction. In terms of Saquon, he'll be out here today doing some stuff with us and we'll see how that kind of builds in throughout the rest of the week. He lost a lot last week not having the availability with the COVID stuff. That set him back a little bit – I wouldn't say set him back physically but in terms of his timetable and not having him ready for that game. But optimistic we'll have him out there today and see how he moves."

Thomas has dealt with ankle and foot injuries this season. He suited up against Dallas but did not play. The following week, he hurt his foot against the Rams and was placed on injured reserve two days later. He is eligible to return against Tampa Bay.

Barkley, meanwhile, has missed four consecutive games after suffering an ankle injury during the Oct. 10 road game against the Dallas Cowboys. He has not practiced since then, a result of the injury and a positive COVID test that later proved to be false leading up to the Week 9 home victory over the Raiders.

"He lost a lot last week not having the availability with the COVID stuff," Judge said. "That set him back a little bit – I wouldn't say set him back physically but in terms of his timetable and not having him ready for that game. But optimistic we'll have him out there today and see how he moves."

FINISH: Giants reflect on 2011 run a decade later

Just as presidential historians can recite the coincidences that bind the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, Giants fans can list the similarities in the championship seasons of 2007 and 2011: timely brilliance by Eli Manning, season-opening road losses to division rivals, postseason triumphs in Lambeau Field, victories as visitors in conference championship games with an overtime takeaway setting up game-winning field goals by Lawrence Tynes and thrilling Super Bowl triumphs against the New England Patriots.

The parallels go back further. In 2007, the Giants lost a home game to an inferior Washington team in Week 15 then won a road game at an AFC team (Buffalo) to catalyze their run (interrupted briefly by a three-point loss to the undefeated Patriots in the regular-season finale). Four years later, the Giants lost a Week 15 home game to last-place Washington. The next week they were the road team in a victory against the AFC East Jets, the first of six consecutive triumphs, including four in the postseason, to end their season.

What perhaps isn't as apparent is that the prologues to those storybook seasons were also eerily comparable. But they were not nearly as successful, though the Giants' final regular-season game in both 2006 and 2010 was a victory in Washington.

In '06 the late triumph ended a streak of six losses in seven games, the last a desultory 30-7 Christmas Eve home loss to New Orleans in which the Giants never took a snap in Saints territory. The Giants snuck into the playoffs at 8-8 but were promptly eliminated in a wild card loss in Philadelphia. Coach Tom Coughlin was in danger of losing his job before meetings with both ownership and reporters led to an improvement in his coaching and public persona. The following season, the Giants defeated an 18-0 New England team in Super Bowl XLII.

📸 Know Your Opponent: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Check out the gallery below to view photos of the Buccaneers likely starters ahead of the Week 11 matchup against the Giants at Raymond James Stadium on Monday Night Football.