Just like Larry Bird needed Magic Johnson, Brady needs Manning and vice versa. The rivalry livens their game, whether they share that field on a particular Sunday or not.
It’s one thing for a star to lead his team to a championship without having to go through another marquee name – like the Houston Rockets during Michael Jordan’s unfortunate baseball career – but athletes really earn their respect by slaying a giant, as when Steve Young and the San Francisco 49ers handed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman his first playoff defeat on the way to winning Super Bowl XXIX.
Brady has earned three Super Bowl rings, and he went through Manning’s Colts to pick up two of them. Later, Manning led an historic comeback to knock off the Patriots in the 2006 AFC championship before claiming his only title. While Brady would never admit it, and there is little consolation in losing a playoff game, Manning’s ability to win a Super Bowl might have actually enhanced Brady’s legacy. That’s because, if nothing else, it legitimizes Manning’s own career.
The only thing this rivalry is missing is a little vitriol. While there were rumors the two quarterbacks weren’t best friends about five years ago, there aren’t exactly any confirmations. And these days, it’s almost surprising Brady didn’t ask Manning to be a groomsman in his wedding. (Although, seriously, it would have added a little fire to their relationship if Brady asked him to be an usher.)
“I’m always keeping up on Peyton,” Brady said. “We talk from time to time. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, and for the role model that he is, the way that he carries himself, the way he leads the team, and the way he’s a representative for the league and all of those things.”
The two bump into each other a couple of times each offseason at charity and league events, and they’ve each mentioned how much they enjoy conversing about football with one another.
“I see Tom maybe once or twice in the offseason at some kind of charity event or whatnot — pretty normal things,” Manning said Wednesday during a conference call with the New England media. “Quarterbacks naturally are going to talk some football. It’s fun to talk football with a guy like Tom because his knowledge is so impressive when it comes to football.”
Added Brady, “We’ll talk about games. We’ll talk about strategy. We’ll talk about players. We’ll talk about how he prepares, how I prepare, certain teams that we play. It kind of runs the gamut. There are a lot of things. He’s got a great knowledge of the game. He really studies it and understands it, and he understands what he does well and what his team does well.”
Brady even picked up the phone last year to ask Manning about his knee injury and certain things to expect during his recovery. While they suffered different types of injuries, each had a setback with a staph infection, and Brady wanted to ask Manning about treatments and other procedural methods.
Clearly, they’ve come a long way since their first meeting, which occurred on the field at Foxboro Stadium prior to Brady’s first career start in 2001. A week after Drew Bledsoe was injured by a Mo Lewis hit, Brady’s initial assignment was to take down Manning and the Colts. Regardless, Manning walked over to Brady during pregame warm-ups and introduced himself — not that Brady needed an introduction from the former No. 1 draft pick.
“It was [Manning’s] third year in the league when I was a rookie [in 2000], and [in 2001], my first start came against the Colts,” Brady said. “Peyton came over on our field and said, ‘Hey, I’m Peyton Manning.’ I said, ‘No [crap].’”
The Patriots won that game 44-13. Their first victory of the season started a stretch in which they won 14 of 17 games, including the Super Bowl. Fittingly — especially decades from now when Brady and Manning remain linked — Brady’s Hall of Fame journey started opposite of Manning.
Since that game, Brady has 213 touchdown passes, which is 22nd all-time and third among active players. He has 28,810 passing yards (37th all-time, seventh among active players), 238.1 passing yards per game (eighth all-time) and a 93.4 career passer rating (fourth all-time).
Manning had a three-year head start on Brady, and quite frankly, the Colts’ offense has always run through Manning, while the Patriots’ offense had been more balanced until recently. Manning has 349 career touchdown passes (third all-time, second among active players), 48,173 yards (fifth all-time, second among active players), 261.8 yards per game (first all-time) and a 95.3 career passer rating (second all-time).
Manning wouldn’t speak about his own numbers or his place in the game’s history, but he wasn’t shy in his praise for Brady.
“What Tom has done in this decade, it’s hard to do it justice on a short conference call,” Manning said. “He’s been unbelievably consistent and seems to get better year after year. He’s had multiple players around him. Even though he’s had the same system, he’s had some offensive coordinator changes. He’s had different guys to throw to, yet he’s remained unbelievably consistent and accurate throughout. That’s a great credit to him.”
While the two won’t ever share the field when the Patriots and Colts meet Sunday night in Indianapolis, they’ll command the spotlight for a possession at a time. Former Colts head coach Tony Dungy, who will work the game in NBC’s New York studio, knows these games bring out the best in each player, and that is what makes this rivalry — between the teams and quarterbacks alike — so captivating.
“Anytime you play against great players, you always raise your level of expectation,” Dungy said. “I’m sure part of it is Tom, but more than that, it’s the challenge of the whole team. It’s playing against a team that you know is a smart team. It’s a team that is not going to beat themselves, and you have to play your best to beat the Patriots. Part of it, yeah, you’re playing against another Pro Bowl quarterback, and you want to go out there and outplay him. But I think both guys would tell you it’s not Manning versus Brady. It’s trying to win the game.”
