Tom Brady shared great battles with Eli Manning and Peyton Manning, so much so to the point that Eli joked that Brady hates their mom, Olivia Manning. Why? Well, because she gave birth to two of Brady’s biggest opponents, Eli and Peyton Manning. Brady is the NFL GOAT, and he’s seen several postseason runs intersect with the Manning brothers, and he hasn’t always come out on the winning side against them. Brady is 2-5 against the Manning brothers in the playoffs.
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How? Well, he lost twice to Eli Manning in the Super Bowl, and he has a 2-3 record against Peyton Manning in the AFC playoffs. It’s crazy to think about, but this one family did disrupt the NFL GOAT’s romp to the top. Brady went essentially 10 years between winning his third Super Bowl and his fourth, but it’s not like he didn’t have the chance. Twice, Brady faced Eli Manning between 2005 and 2015, and twice he lost. It was truly frustrating for Brady, who may still be fighting demons about those losses.
Eli Manning Jokes About Tom Brady Hating Him and Peyton Manning’s Mom Olivia Manning
Sitting in on Julian Edelman’s podcast in 2022, Games with Names, Eli Manning was asked about how the family barbeque usually goes, and whether all the Mannings, Archie, Peyton, and Cooper get together to discuss how much they hate Brady.
Eli nonchalantly denied any such claims, saying there was no way you could hate Brady. “No, no,” he said, as he explained that Brady is a “good looking guy who just throws spirals and wins games. Like, how do you hate that guy?”
However, when he probed further about how Brady’s cookouts probably hate on the Mannings, he offered up a funny comment. “He hates my mom,” Eli said. “If it weren’t for Olivia Manning, Tom would have like, 12 Super Bowls probably.”
Well, is Manning right about the 12 Super Bowl claims? We can look into it. Right off the bat, we know that Brady would have two more Super Bowls, at least.
Brady vs. Eli Manning
The first loss came in Super Bowl 42. The New England Patriots entered the game 18-0 (including playoffs). They were the first team to go undefeated in the modern era, and they were looking to become the NFL’s first perfect team. In their path, stood the New York Giants, a team that could only muster a Wild Card berth.
The game looked to be over before it started. Brady had just set the then-record for yards in a season, Randy Moss set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a year, and it didn’t look like anyone could hang with the Pats. In the final week of the regular season, the Pats and Giants played in a thrilling game where New England came out on top.
Surely, things would be the same this time. Well, they weren’t. The Giants defense harassed Brady and Eli connected with David Tyree on one of the best Super Bowl plays in history, The Helmet Catch, to pull off the great upset in Super Bowl history.
The two would meet again in Super Bowl 46, with Manning’s Giants once more upsetting the higher-seeded Patriots. Once more, an improbable catch was involved.
Brady vs. Peyton Manning
The story between Brady and Peyton Manning is a little different. Since the two only met in postseason games and not the Super Bowl, we can’t say whether Brady was denied Super Bowls in this case, but we can exaggerate a little.
After winning his first two playoff meetings against Peyton Manning, Brady seemingly hit a wall. He would lose the next three games he faced off with against Manning in the postseason. All of his losses were in the Conference Championship as well.
Brady and the Pats lost the 2007 AFC Championship 38-34, in an epic duel between the two greats. Seven years later, Brady faced Manning again, only this time, he was facing the Denver Broncos. Once more, Manning downed Brady and the Pats, 26-16, capping off a Super Bowl berth after the greatest regular season by a quarterback.
Brady had his final chance to beat Manning in 2016, but a failed two-point conversion meant the Broncos took the game 20-18. That year was Peyton’s last year in the league, and he took home a Super Bowl win, powered by an all-time great defense.
Tom Brady had His Headaches with Eli Manning and Peyton Manning
Brady has openly talked about how losing to Eli Manning in 2008 haunts him, wishing that’s the one game he could have back. However, at the end of the day, he formed a great rivalry with one of the game’s greats.
With Peyton Manning, things were even bigger. Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning was the most anticipated quarterback matchup of all time, and they provided us with some great moments, outside the playoffs again. This rivalry defined the 2000s, and it goes down as the greatest quarterback rivalry of all time.
The NFL has some great young talent, and it’ll be interesting to see who the next Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning rivalry will be.
