Tom Brady: Peyton Manning 'Set The Standard' At Quarterback Position

For the first time in his legendary career, Tom Brady will open the 2016 season without rival Peyton Manning doing the same somewhere else in the NFL.

News of Manning’s impending retirement broke Sunday, as the 39-year-old reportedly will call it quits Monday at a news conference in Denver.

That means we’ve officially seen the end of the historic Brady-Manning rivalry, a fact that actually bums out Brady.

“That part sucks,” Brady told Peter King in an interview on MMQB.com. “That part really sucks. That part will always suck.”

Brady unsurprisingly also raved about Manning as a player and a person, as well as the impact No. 18 had on the game during his likely Hall of Fame career.

“Every game he has played, I have watched,” Brady told King. “I have file folders of his plays, of how he plays. It’d take years for me to watch it all again. But what he’s done in Denver has been incredible. Think of what he did — changing teams, changing organizations, at his age, and then in four years going to two Super Bowls with that team.

“What just happened, winning the Super Bowl in his last game, is a perfect way to end a career. But what he’s accomplished through all these years, what makes it so admirable, is the pressure he’s had on him his whole life. He was the highest-rated recruit in high school. He was the biggest quarterback in college football. He was the first pick in the draft. Who has lived up to the expectations year after year after year as well as Peyton? He’s done it so gracefully, so admirably. He set the standard for how to play the quarterback position.”

Brady is praised across the game for his work ethic and his commitment, the work that’s done away from even the practice field, let alone Sundays.

“I realized the level of commitment you must have to be great watching him do it,” Brady said. “I know the time I put in, so I knew the time he had to have put in. It’s not 9 to 5. It’s a lifelong commitment. Football is a sport, it’s an art, it’s a religion. It’s all-encompassing. He mastered it.”

In addition to the interview with King, Brady also sent Manning a good-bye message via his Facebook page. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also reflected on his rivalry with Manning, praising the QB on his “tremendous” career.