Sports > October 23, 2008

By Gary Pasqualicchio | Staff writer

The 2008-2009 NFL season has been full of professional football’s normal intrigue. There are top teams coming from seemingly nowhere (Atlanta, Arizona), disappointing ones who have failed to reach lofty hopes (San Diego, Seattle) rising stars (Brandon Marshall, Michael Turner) and revitalized careers (Kurt Warner, Clinton Portis).

However, one can’t help but feel that something is missing; a gaping hole in the heart of the league.

That something is the rivalry between two of the greatest of all time: Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

This NFL rivalry is our generation’s version of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and an unprecedented one in football’s history.

Never before has there been this much hype, this fierce a competitiveness or more big playoff games between two of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game.

Manning defines greatness with over 300 touchdown passes and 42,000 yards in his career, both good for top 10 all-time in league annals. Brady, on the other hand, is the epitome of winning, with three Super Bowl wins and two Super Bowl MVPs.

They are 1-2 in the best individual seasons by a signal-caller in NFL history and both are destined to end their careers in Canton, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The individual résumés of these two legends could take up an entire book, but what makes this rivalry truly special is not their success against the league, but their epic matchups against each other.

Obviously, quarterbacks do not play against each other on the field at the same time, but no two players represent their individual franchises better than Manning and Brady.

Manning, who was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1998 Draft by the Indianapolis Colts, and Brady, a sixth round pick of the New England Patriots, have both spent their entire careers with the same franchise and have faced each other a total of three times in the playoffs and a handful of others in the regular season.

Early on in the Colts-Patriots, Manning-Brady rivalry it was clear who the overall winner was.

With a 24-14 win in the 2003 AFC Championship Game and a 20-3 beat-down in the 2004 Divisional Round, Brady and the Pats had Peyton’s number. The defense harassed the quarterback for five interceptions while Brady scored three touchdowns in the two contests.

Brady had already won three Super Bowl rings before Manning had even been to the “Big Game.”

All that changed in 2006 when one of the greatest games in NFL history was played for the AFC Conference Championship – you guessed it, Pats vs. Colts.

Trailing 21-6 at half, Manning shook off the label of a guy who couldn’t “win the big one” and stepped out of Brady’s shadow, rallying his team with four second-half touchdowns to spark a 38-34 Colts win. He would go on to win his own Super Bowl the following game against the Chicago Bears, who never stood a chance.

Their on-field success has been comparable, but what makes these two quarterbacks most different is their off-the-field demeanors.

Brady is an untouchable celebrity, dating supermodels and actresses, while Manning is that guy who married his college sweetheart and who you would picture hanging out with over a beer.

Manning is a jokester, seen on SNL and in various commercials, while Brady is all business, appearing in GQ and every tabloid you could name. There are so many wrinkles and dimensions to this rivalry that every time the two quarterbacks’ teams play each other, the whole nation pays close attention. However, all that was lost this season when Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard hit Brady’s knee with his helmet Sept. 7, tearing the ACL and MCL and effectively ending “Tom Terrific’s” year.

However, odd it may be, the injury to his arch-enemies has appeared to have an impact on Manning, is coming off of two knee surgeries of his own and has a 80.0 quarterback rating, his lowest since his rookie season in 1998. Manning has led the Colts to a mediocore 3-3 record thus far, good enough for a second place tie in the division they have dominated in recent years.

The Colts and Patriots may yet again face-off in the playoffs this season – they will meet in the regular season in Week 9 – but it just wouldn’t be the same. In fact, with Brady’s injury considered by some to be career-threatening, and the fact that each of these legends are into their 30s, it may never be the same again.

So enjoy what you have witnessed over the last six-odd years. Cherish the memories, the great moments, the Super Bowls and the drama, because the greatest individual rivalry in NFL history may be gone forever.

And if this is indeed the case, what a rivalry it was.