Peyton Manning takes jab at Patriots, suggests locker was bugged: ‘I used to talk to my receivers in the showers’

Peyton Manning took a shot at the Patriots Monday.Matthew J. Lee

Sounds as if Peyton Manning still has some hard feelings when it comes to the Patriots.

On Monday night’s “ManningCast” of the Detroit-Green Bay game on ESPN2, Peyton — perhaps jokingly — said he was always reticent to face New England, because he was afraid the Patriots had a “hot mic” next to his locker.

“Every time I played against New England, I used to talk to my receivers in the showers,” Peyton said. “Don’t talk about a play next to my locker because I know it’s bugged. I know it’s got a hot mic in there. We’re in the shower … very strange to have seven guys hanging out there in the shower, but take all precautions.”

Peyton suggested the Packers had been listening to the conversations between him and brother Eli about Green Bay’s game plan for Monday.

Peyton Manning on bugged locker rooms and the Patriots. pic.twitter.com/kK99qAIkVg

— Justin Groc (@justgroc) September 21, 2021

“I feel like the Packers were listening to Eli, you and I, the conversation we had on Friday, that [they] have to come out and run the ball,” Peyton said after Green Bay established the run early.

‘I think our conversation was bugged, kind of like the Patriots used to do back in the day,” Peyton added.

So, was this a joke or not? In 2015, Peyton’s coach Tony Dungy confirmed a rumor that had been floating around that the quarterback was a little paranoid.

“As Peyton talked to guys who played for the Patriots and some of the guys who came over [to the Colts], whether it is true or not, he treated it as true and we didn’t have a lot of strategy discussed inside the locker room [at Gillette Stadium],” Dungy said during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show.

For the record, Peyton was 6-13 in his career against New England.