Tom Brady reveals just how much he studied Peyton Manning over the years
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning shared the same field 17 times over the course of nearly two decades. Unfortunately, we won't be treated to an 18th meeting between the two.
Manning will officially announce his retirement on Monday, concluding a decorated career that will likely go down as one of the greatest ever. He holds numerous records that will be nearly impossible to touch for most quarterbacks, but there's still one playing that could eclipse Manning's accolades. That player is Brady.
Few quarterbacks knew Manning better than Brady. On a personal level, Eli Manning probably has Brady beat. But it's doubtful anyone studied No. 18 more than No. 12 did.
Brady had to know everything about Manning. It was almost a requisite for success. The rivalry became an annual meeting, oftentimes with an AFC title on the line. Because of that, Brady never missed a game that Manning played.
"Every game he has played, I have watched," Brady told Peter King of The MMQB. "I have file folders of his plays, of how he plays. It'd take years for me to watch it all again."
Manning has played 266 regular season games. He's also started 27 in the postseason. Based on simple arithmetic, Brady has watched a grand total of 293 games played by Manning. It's probably safe to say you won't find another quarterback that forces his biggest rival to watch nearly 300 games of film.
"A lot," Brady said of what he learned from Manning. "I realized the level of commitment you must have to be great, watching him do it. I know the time I put in, so I knew the time he had to have put in. It's not 9 to 5. It's a lifelong commitment. Football is a sport, it's an art, it's a religion. It's all-encompassing. He mastered it."
Manning didn't just change Brady's game. He changed the sport of football. He created a shift at the quarterback position that few had done before him. The way he read defenses a the line of scrimmage. The way he picked apart NFL defenses as if they were Division II teams.
The game is in good hands at the position thanks to guys like Brady, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, but few will have an impact the way Manning did.
"He was the highest-rated recruit in high school. He was the biggest quarterback in college football. He was the first pick in the draft," Brady said. "Who has lived up to the expectations year after year after year as well as Peyton? He's done it so gracefully, so admirably. He set the standard for how to play the quarterback position."
