Tom Brady famously said “This starting thing is easy” as he bagged a sweeping win against the Colts during his very first game as a starter. His first start was a sneak peek into how things were going to go for him the rest of his career, a career that has culminated in an induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
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Brady won the first game as a starter against Peyton Manning, who was with the Colts at the time, with a sweeping 44-13 win. Of course, he thought being a starter was easy. At Brady’s HOF ceremony, his biggest and most worthy rival, Manning recounted what it was like in that first game, calling Brady’s play “impressive for a guy making his first start.” He added,
“(The first game) did not go well for me and the Colts. I remember meeting Tom before the game and I can remember how cool, calm and collected he was for a guy making his first NFL start. We had a brief conversation and then things kind of went downhill for me after that.”
Peyton Manning on Tom Brady, the respect 👌 pic.twitter.com/B7a3zgVW3Q
— NFL World, What's Up?? (@Whats_Up_NFL) June 13, 2024
That first game between the two rivals was impressive for a rookie Brady but disastrous for Manning. The former Colts quarterback just wasn’t on sure footing and as he remembers, his timing was just off that day. While Brady did not throw any touchdowns, he also didn’t get intercepted, whereas Manning was picked off three times, with both QBs being held under 200 passing yards.
From that first game to their 7th showdown together, Brady went undefeated against Manning, that was until the Colts QB finally figured out the key to holding down the on-fire TB-12.
The Formula For Beating Tom Brady
In 2005, Peyton Manning was finally able to pick up a victory against the quarterback who had presented the greatest challenge to him thus far. With a 321-yard, three-touchdown performance, Manning beat the Patriots 40-21. The secret sauce? The final 6 seconds of the game. Manning gave Brady his flowers for being his most worthy and challenging opponent, and gave insight into what it was like playing against him,
“The hardest thing about playing against Tom Brady was, if you were down by a field goal or even four points, and you were driving to possibly win the game on a two-minute drive, and Coach Dungy would say, ‘Peyton, we want you to score to take the lead, but only do it with about 6 seconds left, we don’t want Tom Brady to have any time’…(Brady) was the ultimate competitor and he wanted that ball.”
He further recounted how he would watch other teams compete against Brady and could pinpoint the moment he knew they were going to lose: if Brady got the ball with a minute or more to go.
The Brady-Manning rivalry defined one of the most remarkable chapters in NFL history. Their legendary competition shaped a generation of NFL football and solidified their status as two of the greatest signal callers of all time. And as they did even when they were rivals, the two gun-slingers remain each other’s biggest cheerleaders.
