Tom Brady rose to the NFL-Goat (The Greatest of All Time) in his 23-year professional career. The seven-time Super Bowl winner, meanwhile, attributes Peyton Manning to part of this success.
In his newsletter, Brady recently remembered and revealed how much he once benefited from the iconic quarterback rivality between him and manning.
“Peyton Manning was a gift for my NFL career,” said the long-time playmaker of the New England Patriots. “I might not quite knew it at the time, but I needed someone to look at who inspired me to get better and who gave me a goal after I could strive.”
In the playoffs, the 47-year-old lost three times against Manning in five duels. Brady apparently drove such defeats against the franchise legends of the Indianapolis Colts to work even harder in the offseason.
The 15-fold Pro-Bowler therefore wrote to Manning: “Thank you for asking me to do my best in March, April and May, when nobody watched to hang hard and to face myself that went far beyond what others thought possible.”
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NFL: Brady saw an “enemy” in Manning
When the rivalry between the two NFL sizes boiled up, Brady understandably had far less positive feelings for his opponent. As a competitor, he respected and admired Manning as a competitor.
“That was always there, please don’t understand me wrong, but while we stepped up against each other, I could not allow the fact that he was in the shadow that he was my enemy, that he did not respect me that he thought he was better than me because he was number 1 from a second school – at least I talked to me,” said Brady.
According to his own statement, this self -manipulation provided the native of California “the necessary additional energy and motivation to concentrate and do even more to beat it more often than he”. With success: Brady ultimately achieved a record of 11-6 against Manning.