It took away from the main focus of Sunday night’s New England Patriots-Indianapolis Colts game, which was seeing Peyton Manning against Tom Brady again.
Seeing those two play quarterback in the same game is like hearing Mozart and Beethoven compose music on opposite ends of a room, soothing your ears with every note.
We had the quarterback version of greatness Sunday night, and somehow it was overshadowed in a big way by Fourth-and-Idiotic.
We say they are 1 and 1A as it relates to ranking passers now. Who’s who in that debate remains undecided and might be one we’re fighting years from now, when we’re having trouble keeping the dentures in place.
Where they rank against each other is too tough to decide. This isn’t: They are two of the five best quarterbacks ever.
There, I said it.
Go ahead. Make your list. Fire up the debate.
Johnny Unitas. Joe Montana. Dan Marino. John Elway. Otto Graham. On and on it goes, but you would be hard-pressed to keep either Manning or Brady off of my top-five list.
When those two take the field, most of the time it’s a quarterback clinic. They read coverage as well as any passers who’ve played the game. Their accuracy is deadly. Their toughness is that of a linebacker. They slide in the pocket at the feel of pressure like Marino did in his prime. It’s composure.
Marino had Elway as a rival, but they met only three times in their careers (Marino had a 2-1 edge, with Elway winning their only postseason meeting). Manning and Brady have faced each other 11 times now and Brady is 7-4 after Sunday’s 35-34 loss. Manning has won five of the past six against the Patriots, although Brady missed the 2008 game with a knee injury. Brady is 2-1 in the playoffs against Manning.
Brady also has three rings. Manning has one. That’s where Brady gets the big edge.
Elway had two rings and Marino had none, but I still think Marino was better. Hey, Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson have rings, for whatever that’s worth, and they wouldn’t be allowed to play a pickup game with Marino based on their passing ability.
Both Brady and Manning had huge games Sunday night. Brady threw for 375 yards and three touchdowns. Manning had 327 yards and four touchdowns, including the game-winner with 16 seconds left.
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