Other than perhaps Messi-Ronaldo or Federer-Nadal, Tom Brady-Peyton Manning is the best player rivalry the sports world has seen since Magic-Bird. There was never any major animosity between the two. But, as the top QBs on the premier NFL teams of the 2000s, the rivalry was unavoidable. The rivalry became so intense that it revealed a different side of Brady when he took a jab at a Hall of Famer, which few expected to see.
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At first, when it was Manning’s Indianapolis Colts against Brady’s New England Patriots, both men played clear parts. Brady was the gritty underdog that was all about winning, while Manning was the pristine No. 1 pick from a football family who got all the stats and individual accolades but couldn’t get over the hump. Brady jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the rivalry from 2001-2004, including two demolition derbies of Indy in the playoffs.
However, the pendulum swung in 2005. Manning’s Colts dominated in a 40-21 regular season win, which was Manning’s first triumph over Brady. He did it again in the 2006 regular season and finally got the proverbial monkey off his back in the 2006 AFC Championship when he overcame a 21-3 deficit to get the win en route to the Super Bowl 41 title. After Manning moved to the Denver Broncos, he continued his playoff success over the GOAT, beating him in the 2013 AFC Championship as well as the 2015 edition.
All in all, Brady owns the overall advantage 11-6 while Manning owns a 3-2 edge in the playoffs. However, the two QBs weren’t the only people who felt they were part of a rivalry. The entire Patriots and Colts teams (more so than the Broncos) felt it too. Colts head coach Tony Dungy certainly did. Back in December 2020, Dungy continued to back his guy over the GOAT.
“First of all, I don’t think you can rank across generations anyway. So I said I’m not gonna do that, I’m not gonna go by statistics or whatever. I’m gonna go by who was toughest on me. So now I gotta start—I’m never putting Tom Brady ahead of Peyton Manning, so the best he can be is two. (Laughs) Because Peyton was my guy, so the highest he could ever get is two.”
.@TonyDungy defends putting Tom Brady at No. 6 as his toughest QB to coach against:
“Who I put ahead of Tom Brady: Aaron Rodgers, John Elway, Steve Young, guys who could move. Not to say Tom wasn’t great, but that extra dimension meant something to me.” pic.twitter.com/MyWuy41IZZ
— Club Shay Shay (@ClubShayShay) December 22, 2020
Dungy was head coach of the Colts from 2002-2008. His head-to-head record against Brady was 3-5 with a 1-2 record in the postseason. Brady had his number on several occasions, but the longer the rivalry went, the better Dungy got, winning three of his final four matchups with Brady.
In that interview with Shannon Sharpe, Dungy ranked Brady as just the sixth-toughest QB he had to game plan for. He showed Tom his respect, but Dungy focused on the fact that when you’re game-planning for a dual-threat QB as a defensive coach, there’s a lot more to consider compared to preparing for a pocket passer like Brady or Manning.
“I start thinking of, okay, who gave me real problems. John Elway. You could do everything right, have the perfect defense, he’s gonna move around and make something happen and kill you. And he killed me enough, he was difficult,” he stated.
“Steve Young was the same way, those mobile quarterbacks. So that’s who I put ahead of Tom: Aaron Rodgers, John Elway, Steve Young, guys who could move. Not to say Tom wasn’t great, he is great. But that extra dimension meant something to me.”
Tom Brady showed off his petty side a little bit more upon joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the third act of his career in 2020. When Dungy made those comments, Brady’s Bucs were 9-5 in his first year there. But that didn’t stop Brady from reminding Dungy of his own greatness.
He did so by quote tweeting Dungy’s clip from the Club Shay Shay podcast with nothing but a picture of Indy’s 2014 AFC Finalist banner. The Patriots beat the Colts 45-7 in that game before winning Super Bowl 49 on that Russell Wilson interception. That Pats-Colts contest was also the genesis of the “Deflategate” scandal.
https://t.co/mxsEmFlJdj pic.twitter.com/cdN1T55yU6
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) December 22, 2020
Perhaps Tom Brady’s social media intern had forgotten that Dungy had departed Indy six years before that game, but it was still funny to see the GOAT with his petty hat on. Not to mention that just two months later, he won his seventh and final Super Bowl at the tender age of 43. That surely showed them!
