Reggie Wayne was wired for the Super Bowl and mostly didn’t say much. But as I watched parts of the game for an obsessive third time, I knew that Wayne’s mic’d up segment would pay off huge in the end.
What did Peyton Manning say to Wayne after his back-breaking interception?
Apparently, we’ll never know. NFL Films chose to omit the conversation from NFL Replay, and kept it out of their otherwise awesome online audio choices.
Look, I feel weird criticizing anything having to do with NFL Films. I would nominate the Sabols for Sainthood, much less Canton. But if you are going to give us Wayne mic’d up all game, you can’t withhold the moment after history was made! (In the immortal words of Chris Russo, that’s a bad job.)
Failing to include the conversation just makes me think it’s juicier. Maybe they are protecting Manning. Or Wayne. Maybe it’s filled with expletives.
It was an opportunity to hear one of the game’s all-time greats after one of the most intensely painful moments of his career. It would have been compelling and honest. Isn’t that the idea behind putting microphones on players in the first place?
UPDATE: NFL Films gave PFT an explanation.