Despite winning seven Super Bowls, Tom Brady also had his lean years — a 10-year drought in his 23-year storied career without a ring. The reason? Eli Manning.
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The New York Giants, led by Manning, stopped Brady from winning the 2007 and 2012 Super Bowls. He remains the only QB to beat Brady twice in the big game.
So, when Brady showed up at the Fanatics Fest in New York, The Shop Live host Paul Rivera was curious about one thing. “How have my Giants fans been treating you? Have they been taking care of you?” he asked Brady. And Brady, with a smile on his face, spoke about how the fans continue to make fun of his losses.
“Terrible. I walked through yesterday, ‘How has it felt being Eli Manning’s son?’ And then I turned to Eli, and I’m like, see what I gotta live with because of you,” said Brady.
“And he was right with me, but I had to make sure I beat him in the games so I had some bragging rights over him,” Brady added in a sit-down that featured LeBron James, Kai Cenat, and Victor Wembanyama.
Brady’s Patriots lost the close encounter by 17-14 in Super Bowl 42. Five years later, Super Bowl 46 also saw another four-point victory for the Giants, with the scoreline reading 21-17. What was the deciding factor in these games was how the Giants’ defense blocked the Patriots’ running and passing game.
It is also interesting to note that all three of Brady’s Super Bowl losses were against NFC East teams. The Eagles clinched a 41-33 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
Brady’s encounters with the Giants fans have been hitting headlines since 2021. In a Complex Sport podcast, he admitted that he “got to figure out how to beat the Giants someday.” Brady even proposed a rematch with Eli just to stop the fans from taunting him.
“I [have] got a question for you. How could you hate me when you’re a Giants fan? You should love me,” Brady had said in that 2021 talk. “That was the only team I never beat, was the freakin’ Giants.”
Despite the comments from fans, Brady indeed likes the city a lot. He has a personal reason too: “I’m in New York a lot. My son lives here. But you guys keep talking all your s**t, right,” he explained.
“He beat me in the big games, so it’s okay,” Brady added about Eli’s win against him.
Meanwhile, TB12 did beat Eli during the Fanatics Fest in New York. He took part in seven events, including quarterback throwing skills, baseball pitching accuracy, soccer shooting, a golf challenge, and a UFC striking competition.
Brady finished second in the quarterback skills contest, behind Texans QB CJ Stroud. After earning $1 million prize money, he said he would hand over $5,000 to each of the 50 fans who competed in the event and donate the rest to charity.
Brady also jokingly ripped up Eli’s Giants jersey in what turned out to be a WWE-style entrance during the Fanatics event. After all, Eli has the bragging rights of stopping Brady, and TB12, despite winning seven Super Bowls, may still wish he had won one of those two games against Eli.
