Tom Brady Says Peyton Manning Was 'Gift to My NFL Career,' Explains Rivalry with QB

NFL icon Tom Brady discussed his rivalry with fellow legendary quarterback Peyton Manning.

"Peyton Manning was a gift to my NFL career," Brady wrote in his weekly newsletter on Monday. "I maybe didn’t fully know it at the time, but I needed someone to look up to, who inspired me to be better, and who gave me a target to aim for. Now when I see him, the only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you for challenging me to be the best I could be, to dig deep in March and April and May when nobody was watching, and to have expectations for myself that were above and beyond what others thought was possible."

Brady also noted that he knew he had to be "locked in" anytime he faced Manning:

"I knew, for example that when I played Peyton Manning, I had to be locked in all week and laser focused all game," he added. "I couldn't have a single bad play against him. I knew that one interception could cost me a game. I knew that game could cost me home field advantage. I knew that home field advantage could cost us a chance to go to the Super Bowl. That sounds like a hypothetical, but it’s the story of our week 8 match-up during the 2006 season, which they won. We both ended the season as division winners with identical 12-4 records, but the Colts got the higher seed, hosted the AFC championship game against us, and went on to win the Super Bowl."

"…When I look back on my relationship with Peyton Manning, my respect, admiration, and appreciation for him as a competitor has grown with each passing year. It was always there, don’t misunderstand, but while we were competing against each other I couldn’t let that get in the way of the fact that he was my enemy, that he didn’t respect me, that he thought he was better than me because he was a #1 pick from an SEC school—or at least that’s what I made myself believe. Convincing myself that those things were true created a sense of urgency within me to prove him wrong, and it provided the extra bit of energy and motivation necessary to lock in and focus and execute just that much more so that I could beat him more often than he beat me."

Brady and Manning sit at No. 1 and No. 3 on the NFL's all-time passing yards list, respectively. They both occupy the same spots on the league's all-time passing touchdowns leaderboard as well.

Brady's résumé includes 15 Pro Bowl nods, three MVP awards and seven championships. Meanwhile, Manning ended his NFL tenure with 14 Pro Bowl selections, five MVPs and a pair of Super Bowl titles.

Both former quarterbacks shared the same conference during their respective careers, leading to several AFC meetings in the regular season as well as the playoffs.

Brady owned a record of 11-6 in the overall rivalry, although Manning won three of their five matchups in the postseason.

Manning retired at the end of the 2015 season, while Brady stepped away from the sport in Feb. 2023.

The two have praised each other since their respective retirements, with Manning detailing the mindset of facing Brady during his 2024 enshrinement into the New England Patriots' Hall of Fame.

"You knew when you were playing against a Tom Brady team, you better be at your best, cause if you weren't, Tom Brady was going to beat you every time," Manning said, per Mike Pescaro of NBC10 Boston.

As the former signal-callers continue their careers beyond the NFL, there's still mutual respect between them.