Mississippi- Cooper Manning went 14-22 with 8 TDs, in route to a lopsided 56-17 victory over his brother-in-law’s team during a friendly touch football game in the Heidingsfelder family’s backyard on Thanksgiving Day.

Cooper, older brother of NFL star Peyton Manning and NFL player Eli, is now statistically the third most successful quarterback in the Manning family.

“He is a great student of the game,” Peyton commented in a phone conversation after the Colts Thanksgiving Day win over the Falcons. “He knows that he has to throw to the guys on his team. That’s not an easy lesson for our family.”

Cooper started slowly, going incomplete on his first three pass attempts of the game, but then remembered everything he learned from watching brother Eli the past few seasons.

“I just thought back” Cooper laughed, “and did the opposite.”

The Heidingsfelders host a family touch game every season, but this is the first time Cooper has actually participated in his in-laws holiday game.

“When you younger brother is Peyton Manning,” he laughed “you don’t want to pick up a football. People expect you to be as good as him. That’s tough to live up to. You’d be an ass to try.”

The Heidingsfelders finally convinced Cooper to play, explaining that he couldn’t be any worse than Eli.

“Actually,” remarked father Archie Manning, “when you count Ricky and Danieal, Eli isn’t even the second most successful person named Manning in the NFL. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat my wife for convincing me to have a third child.”