Allen Park — In the season premiere of Peyton Manning's "Peyton's Places" that aired on ESPN this past Saturday, the Hall of Fame quarterback takes a deep dive into the "Curse of Bobby Layne" and attempts to exorcise the demons that have plagued the Detroit Lions franchise for more than six decades.
The program is informative, with plenty of footage of Layne, including several old interview clips, paired with guest appearances from local celebrities Keegan-Michael Key and Jeff Daniels. The episode culminates with Daniels and Manning at Ford Field, performing a campy ritual involving Layne's helmet and a bathtub of whisky, attempting to reverse the curse, which Layne allegedly placed on the franchise after he was traded to Pittsburgh in the early weeks of the 1958 season.