Tom Brady's 4th Ring Should Squash Any Retirement Thoughts for Peyton Manning

All the talk about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s greatness in the aftermath of him earning his fourth Super Bowl ring is either revolting or riveting, depending on your perspective. He’s the best quarterback ever. He’s the best player ever.

It has to have Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning feeling like Jan from The Brady Bunch. Four rings to one. Six appearances to three. Brady beat the very team to win Super Bowl XLIX that whipped Manning and the Broncos in XLVIII.

Brady. Brady. Brady.

If you think this has no effect on Manning’s decision to return in 2015, you underestimate his competitiveness. If there were any lingering doubts about Manning’s return, the Patriots winning the Super Bowl put the kibosh on them.

Manning can’t let this be the way he goes out.

Manning can’t let his final game be a horrible performance in the playoffs. Manning can’t let his replacement in Indianapolis, Andrew Luck, be the man that beat him in his final game. Manning can’t walk away knowing Brady hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy again and he didn’t.

As a competitor, Manning has to go out on better terms. Manning knows he is still a very good, if not great, quarterback. He knows he has a better finish left in his aging body. 

There's is no chance he goes out like this. Especially not with Brady goading Manning to come back for a 17th, and potentially 18th round between the two greats.

"I certainly hope he's back,” Brady said last week via Lindsay Jones of the USA Today. Brady added that the game would miss Manning if he left.

The truth is that Brady needs Manning. He’s Captain Kirk and Manning is Spock. Every great character needs a foil—whether friend or foe.  

Brady is doing a victory lap right now. Manning is still technically trying to decide whether to return in 2015 to play for new head coach Gary Kubiak. It highlights a big difference between the two.

Manning is contemplative and cerebral. He organizes everything ahead of time and then makes an announcement. When the time does come for him to retire, it won’t be messy for him or the team.

Brady is and always will be balls to the wall. Until every team in the league tells him he’s washed up, he probably won’t believe it. He wants to play well into his 40s, which doesn’t happen in the NFL at any position that doesn’t kick the ball.

"It will end badly (with the Patriots)," Brady’s dad told The New York Times Magazine last week. "It does end badly. And I know that because I know what Tommy wants to do. He wants to play 'til he's 70.”

That’s not to say Manning isn’t also super competitive. It’s just that Manning goes about things a different way. Brady won’t directly deny he messed with the footballs before the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts. Brady plays with an old-school edge, while Manning created the whole concept of the squeaky-clean quarterback.

Quarterback	Playoff Games	Super Bowls	Head-to-Head	Comp. %	TD	INT%	Y/A
Tom Brady	20-8	4-2	2-2	62.9	53	26	6.8
Peyton Manning	11-13	1-2	2-2	64.0	38	24	7.3

Whether Brady’s style is why he’s won four Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots is debatable. As is that Manning needs a second ring for the debate about which quarterback is better to rage on into eternity.

For as sizable as Manning’s statistical advantages are, a three-ring advantage for Brady is significant. Anything can happen in the playoffs, so it’s easy to understand that one great quarterback won one or two more rings than another, but three? Even the most ardent Manning supporters have to admit that there might be something more to it than luck or a superior supporting cast.

Even after all these years, Manning might still be searching for that little something extra Brady seems to have. Maybe it’s as simple as having a great head coach, in which case Broncos general manager John Elway made the right move firing John Fox and hiring Kubiak. At least Elway is trying.

Manning knows now he has to come back and try to get another ring. His legacy is secure, and he’ll forever be compared to Brady no matter what he does, but when it comes to being the best quarterback of his generation, Brady is the one with the hardware.

For a competitor like Manning, that just won’t do.