TOM BRADY VS PEYTON MANNING
I’m going to love it in a few years once these guys are both gone. They’ve had a great run but I’d love to see something new. The AFC has been incredibly top heavy for over a decade and it’s just so boring now to get the same few teams at the top over and over and over again. Since 2000, the AFC has had only 6 teams represent the AFC in the Bowl. (Pats 6x, Colts 2x, Steelers 3x, Ravens 2x, Broncos 1 Raiders 1). They’ve had 6 different QBs (Tom 6x, Ben 3x, Peyton 3x, Flacco, Dilfer & Gannon once each). Plus this year we get either Brady 7 times or Peyton 4 times. The AFC is going to be so interesting once this era is finally over. Joe Flacco will finally blossom into the Elite master he was born to be.
For comparison, the NFC since 2000: 13 different teams. (Seahawks 3x, Giants 3x, everyone else once, with Arizona and Carolina looking for #2). No QB has gone more than twice (Eli, Warner, Wilson). I saw a lot of people say that the AFC just has the best QBs and that’s why it’s the same teams but that’s not true. They just have 3 of the best QBs on 3 of the most competent organizations. The NFC has plenty of QB talent capable of winning it all. Actually, maybe that’s why it’s so diverse, because the NFC has more. Rodgers, Eli, Brees & Wilson have already proven they can do it. I’d say Romo, Cam, & Ryan (not this year’s Ryan) are also very capable of winning it all. The AFC has Brady, Ben, Manning, Flacco, and then I guess Rivers. There are a couple nice younger guys in the AFC waiting their turn but they aren’t good enough yet (Dalton & Luck). So the AFC sits around in second tier waiting for the top to fall off while the NFC slugs it out every single season.
Yeah, but are you ready for BRADY VERSUS MANNING IN A SPIT SWAPIING, NO-HOLDS BARRED MAKE OUT MATCH?!??!?
FIND OUT THE CHAMPION THIS SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!!
Ladders! Chainsaws! Explosions!
Honestly, I love rivalries like this.
Marino/Elway was great, Marino/Kelley was okay, any of them vs. Joe Montana, but Marino/Elway always had that feel of a cross-divisional grudge-match, which is so much better than a divisional grudge match. We didn’t have anything to fill that void for a few years, and the NFL felt emptier for it.
I was looking forward to Kaepernick vs. Wilson, but then York did things like he was on a drunk dare from Satan, but maybe Chip’s Wild Ride Part II can out do Swaggy Pete and the Legion of Horrible Nicknames. Oh well.
Part of what made Manning/Brady so great was that Brady wasn’t seen as great, and stomped Manning in the early part of the rivalry, but then Manning finally got a team, and won the next two. Add in that Eli beat Brady twice in the Big Dance (and is the ONLY QB who’s played Brady 5 or more times and has a winning record against him), and you get that familial tag-team feel. The game between them has determined homefield advantage throughout the playoffs at least 4 times that I’m aware of. It’s a GREAT story, and even if it’s a little tired, I’ve been around long enough to see these epic matchups fade away, and miss them.
I wish I’d been around for the Steelers/Raiders and Steelers/Cowboys of the 70s, or the Packers/Cowboys of the 60s. Something new always comes along, but it’s never quite the same. Brady/Manning’s special, and you’re going to miss it when it’s gone.
It’ll be nice to look back on but I’m seriously eager to see what new rivalries will arise
After this year, I can see Teddy vs. Wilson shaping out as decent rivalry, especially if #7torm never gets back in with the 49ers and MN picks up someone like Kearse or Alshon in the offseason.
I hope Bortles and Mariota shape up. You’d have 3 top-shelf QBs in the same division.
As carolina keeps improving every year and the number of close games in big situations they have already had, I’m excited for Wilson v Newton over 5 years.
I’m reasonably sure this one will be the last Brady v Manning. I just can’t imagine Peyton coming back next year and quite frankly, I don’t want to. This season was sad enough already.
It’s like they say “TOM BRADY AND 45 OTHER RED WHITE AND BLUE MOFOS THAT DON’T MATTER VERSUS PEYTON MANNING AND 45 ORANGE BASTARDS WE DON’T CARE ABOUT.”
It’s kind of amusing to me how the media has to juggle between Manning obviously being carried by the defense and being determined to put the entire team’s value on his shoulders.
Seriously, if Manning wasn’t such a big name from his past accomplishments we’d have the same deal as the Texans with JJ Watt; everyone would be running around with jerseys for the big defensive stars, maybe a couple people with Thomas and Sanders jerseys, and nobody would even care about the QB’s name.
But then again, if Peyton didn’t have so much respect from his coaches, we would see Denver juggling him, Brock, Trevor Siemian, Christian Ponder, etc. It’s like the 2012 49ers with Kaepernick and A11ex, except Kubiak doesn’t hate Peyton Manning and his game manager package.
Yes.
Sounds like a law firm: Manning Brady and associates.
Or Star Trek: Tom, Peyton and the red shirts.
I find it funny how out of all the current starting QBs in the NFC, Eli Manning has the most rings.
I don’t find it funny at all.
Certainly not “ha-ha” funny. More “laughing-because-the-universe-is-a-capricious-uncaring-void-and-everything-good-fades-to-dust” funny.
Maybe you should give Eli the respect he deserves then. Every time a Pats fan disses Eli, I can’t help but facepalm. He beat the Pats twice in the Super Bowl. Saying he’s bad means you lost to a scrub. Twice.
And if Eli needs to turn in his rings because “obviously he was carried by the defense”, Brady needs to check the three he got early on at the door as well, because the same shit happened.
I never said we didn’t lose to a scrub twice, because that’s literally what happened. We lost to a scrub. Twice. And hurts to think about it. The two years they beat us, they happened to get hot at the right time and made amazing runs, and we were the bums who were unlucky enough to play them. We shut down The Greatest Show on Turf, out gunned an offensive juggernaut in Carolina, and toasted the LOB, yet we couldn’t beat a scrub QB with a good defense. It’s honestly appalling…
“And if Eli needs to turn in his rings because “obviously he was carried by the defense”, Brady needs to check the three he got early on at the door as well, because the same shit happened.”
Super Bowl 38 was a shootout, and 39 came down to terrible clock management.
Eli isn’t a scrub QB unless your definition of scrub is “worse that Tom Brady”. Eli isn’t an all star or GOAT or anything like that but he’s far from a scrub. And he was basically the #1 reason we won in 2011. He dragged that team to 5-6 4th quarter comebacks, set records for 4th quarter TDs, and had the #5 passing offense. Keep in mind in 2011 we had the 32nd ranked run game, so he was doing it all by himself.
He’s currently #8 all time in passing TDs with a good chance to move up to 6th when he retires. He’s 11th in Passing Yards and will probably move up to #9 next year barring anything unforseen.
I can understand why you’d be bitter, but he’s not a scrub.
As a Patriots fan. Flacco is already Elite.
Also lets not forget, what the NFC Calls Pairity we in the AFC Call inconsistency.
To be fair its easier to be consistent if you cheat
I have never understood why this is supposed to be an entertaining rivalry. Good rivalries are close, Brady-Manning is 11-5. It’s clear which quarterback has more life left in them, and which one comes into this game more capable of winning. If Peyton wins, it’s not going to be because Peyton won the day, it’s going to be because the defense beat Tom, which has nothing to do with Peyton.
Well, in the playoffs, they’re even and Manning is 2 of 3 in the AFC championship against Brady. It’s funny considering that this is the chokingest quarterback of all time versus the most clutch, but if Peyton’s team beats Brady’s one last time, the choker’ll have the winning record in the postseason as well as 3/4 AFCCGs.
Well, in 2013 Brady was fielding a team of corpses, but yes, it has been much closer after the Patriots’ initial defensive dominance in the early 2000s.
To be fair, 3 of Brady’s rings have much less to do with him and much more to do with the defensive brain of his coach and the monsters they fielded on d. With the scheme he is in and the number of years he has had to adjust to it and have it adjust to him have led him to be the most dominant qb in history. In the other camp, Peyton has been more directly responsible for his teams success, and much less responsible for the failings in the playoffs than Brady has been. It isn’t unreasonable to think that had they switched teams they had played on the pats would have more rings and brady would be just as or more beat up than manning is. You can try to take away from Manning if they win as it had nothing to do with him, but you probably should go ahead and admit the same for at least Brady’s first 2, and arguably 3, rings.
You must not have watched Super Bowl XXXVIII or XXXIX.
Technically Warner has been to 3 since 2000 because super bowl 34 was played in 2000
& Ryan (not this year’s Ryan)
ain’t that the goddamn truth
Flacco? Are you fucking serious?
Flacco is awful.
The future of the AFC is Carr, Dalton, and Bortles.
“Top heavy” like Peyton’s head
I’ll just be happy once that Nationwide commercial is gone. Death to that jingle.
Surprising no one except the analysts, Manning was just a game manager who kept the mistakes down while the Denver D proved to be the best unit on the field.
while it pains me to say this…CALLED IT! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in the corner crying.
Considering that Dilfer won a Super Bowl, you could argue that literally any QB can get a ring, as long as his team can carry him there. Manning and Brady have had spectacular talent to help them. Manning had a defense that limited the Patriots to only 14 and 17 points in their two matchups, Wilson’s defense and special teams scored enough to beat the Broncos without any need for offense. That’s probably why the best Super Bowls since then have been Steelers vs Packers, Ravens vs 49ers, Pats vs Seahawks, and any not involving the Giants, Bears, or Raiders.
Soon Bortles will take the headlines.
But the bias northeast coast-centric media doesn’t know where Jacksonville is so it will be nothing like the lovefest that the Patriots get.
How bout Matt Ryan v Brees? I’ll leave
“Joe Flacco will finally blossom into the Elite master he was born to be.”
I love you
I’m sad you didn’t put SVP’s logo on the desk. It’s simple, it’s tongue in cheek and I love it.