Tom Brady, Peyton Manning Both Need To Win Sunday To Secure Legacy
When Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos host Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, the winner of the fifth post-season contest between the two first-ballot Hall of Famer quarterbacks might be the most important yet.
Despite having multiple Super Bowl appearances and passing records to their credit, both Peyton Manning and Tom Brady need this win to secure their legacy.
Tom certainly is fairly secure in his playoff legacy, having led his team to six Super Bowl appearances and four victories in the biggest game of the year. But part of the legacy Tom Brady leaves behind will be shared with his head coach — Bill Belichick — as the coach has guided the team in all of those games.
Tom needs to distance himself from the rest of the quarterback field, or Brady runs the risk of being pigeon-holed into the arguments that Belichick’s system and schemes were the difference, not the signal caller’s arm. A fifth Super Bowl championship would do as much, providing Tom Brady with one more Lombardi Trophy than any other quarterback to have played the game.
Peyton Manning runs the opposite risk. Beyond winning a Super Bowl nearly a decade ago in Indianapolis, Peyton has never recaptured the Lombardi trophy. His two opportunities — in 2010 against the New Orleans Saints and 2014 against Seattle — both fell short, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of a quarterback who owns nearly every significant record for his position. With retirement looming, Sunday’s match-up might not be only the last time Peyton faces off against Tom Brady, but it could be his final game period. Certainly, urgency is a forgone conclusion for Manning.
A second Super Bowl ring coupled with his records would solidify Peyton Manning as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — to have ever played the game. At the very least, a win Sunday against the New England Patriots would ensure that Peyton Manning would beat Tom Brady in head-to-head playoff match-ups. This contest serves as a pivotal game five in a best-of-five series that started nearly 12 years ago, ESPN illustrated Sunday night. Tom Brady won the first two games, while Peyton Manning evened the series with his victories in the 2006 and 2013 AFC Championship games.
To win the AFC Championship for the second time in three years, Peyton Manning will rely on his running game and defense this go around. Manning has been on the sidelines for nearly half the season with a foot injury, and questions emerged near the end of the year if Peyton would ever play again.
The time off Peyton Manning received has been nothing short of a second gust of wind in the aging quarterback’s sail. Manning has been sharper than at any point in his season the last two games, showing the ill effects from the injury were truly slowing down the 39-year-old on the football field.
The cast behind Tom Brady is also a new one of sorts, but that’s the charm behind the New England Patriots’ championship teams. The contributing players surrounding Brady continue to change, but the winning ways remain the same during this 12-year run. Those winning ways also including a winning record all-time against Peyton Manning as Tom Brady owns the 16 previous contests with an 11-5 record, Yahoo! Sports reported.
Looking at the regular season match-up between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots won’t tell fans much, unfortunately. Peyton Manning missed the 30-24 overtime victory for the Broncos, yielding to Brock Osweiler in arguably his best performance of the season. Tom Brady could look differently, too, as both Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman were absent from the November meeting.
Does Tom Brady or Peyton Manning need this victory in order to secure their legacy as possibly the greatest quarterback of all-time? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
[Photo by Jim Rogash & Dustin Bradford/Getty Images]
