Peyton Manning will make official on Monday what we all knew was an inevitability during this past season — that one of the best quarterbacks of all-time will retire at the age of 39.
Sports Illustrated‘s Peter King authored a goodbye column in which Manning’s greatest rival, Tom Brady, sounds almost sad about the fact the two will never square off again.
“That part sucks,” Brady said, sounding sad. “That part really sucks. That part will always suck.”
King also feels it’s important to make it abundantly clear in the story that Brady was willing to talk to him while watching his 8-year-old son’s soccer game, lest you forget being a shill for the NFL has its advantages.
It’s understandable that Brady is upset about losing Manning, as he defeated him 11 times in 17 matchups, playoffs included. But since 2005, after Brady won the first six meetings, Manning went 6-5 and won three straight AFC championships against Brady.
“Every game he has played, I have watched,” Brady said. “I have file folders of his plays, of how he plays. It’d take years for me to watch it all again. But what he’s done in Denver has been incredible. Think of what he did—changing teams, changing organizations, at his age, and then in four years going to two Super Bowls with that team.”
It’s the end of an era in the NFL for sure, but there are new stars ready to emerge to take the place of Manning vs. Brady. We will have a decade of Bortles vs. Mariota and Cousins vs. Bradford and Winston vs. …
… Maybe this day really is as sad as Brady says.
(Via Sports Illustrated)
