Peyton Manning destroys Brandon Aiyuk after dropped touchdown pass

San Francisco 49ers fans can safely assume that Peyton Manning was among those who were quite frustrated after Brock Purdy's seemingly perfect touchdown pass to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.

With Aiyuk entering the season's opener with little practice time, it was likely expected that his overall performance would be under scrutiny after spending most of the summer making countless headlines as part of various trades that ultimately ended with the team's top wide receiver staying in San Francisco and signing a four-year contract extension.

Although the aforementioned throw from Purdy was so beautifully placed that only Aiyuk could catch it, the ball wasn't really close to being caught. And simply by the standards that Aiyuk has set for himself, it was a ball that he normally catches.

Of course, social media was predictably ready to pounce on the fifth-year receiver, and that was also true of Peyton Manning during ESPN's “ManningCast.”

Eli Manning opening things with a verbal alley-oop to his brother, mentioning that Aiyuk might be a little rusty, was more than enough to get Peyton Manning talking about the importance of training camp. “Get a contract signed, go to training camp, there's a reason for training camp, you need it!” declared a visibly frustrated Peyton Manning. “You need the reps! Get those contracts done early so we can get to training camp and not screw up on opening night.”

After more passive, reasonable words from Eli, Peyton stepped it up a notch and addressed Aiyuk's obvious unwillingness to play.

“On a high school field, you're still catching balls from a quarterback who's 45 years old, my age. You're not catching balls from your quarterback. Get signed, come to training camp, and we're not dropping the ball.”

The great thing about having the option to watch the “ManningCast” on ESPN2 instead of the traditional broadcast on ESPN is those moments. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman have limited scope — and time — to analyze any given game, and you'll never hear either of them go as far as Manning does, making references to a 45-year-old guy kicking around the old leather football on any high school football field.

But that's exactly what makes the whole thing so much fun.

After hearing such powerful thoughts on training camp holdouts, you'd think this probably happened a few times during Peyton Manning's legendary time with the Colts and Broncos, and he probably had something to say about it. Because, wow, that rant felt pretty personal.

And given the way Manning behaved with the people closest to him — yes, you, Jeff Saturday — any kind of confrontation with a teammate had to be a front-row conversation worthy of an appointment.