“I had dinner with him twice in 23 years!” Tom Brady discloses he wasn’t friends with his ‘biggest rival’ Peyton Manning during their playing days because of his ‘toughness’

Brady did not have many friends aside from his teammates during his playing days.

“I had dinner with him twice in 23 years!” Tom Brady discloses he wasn’t friends with his ‘biggest rival’ Peyton Manning during their playing days because of his ‘toughness’

Tom Brady talked about his relationship with Peyton Manning during their playing days (Image via ESPN)

For Tom Brady to become the best, he needed to beat the best. During his time with the New England Patriots, there were several players equal to or even better than the Michigan graduate. And at the very top of the food chain was Peyton Manning.

They may be friends now, but everything was forgotten on the field. The first time these two juggernauts of football met, Manning already had more than 50 touchdowns to his name. On top of that, he was a first-round pick in the draft, and the Patriots selected Brady in the sixth round.

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If anyone had declared that Tom Brady would go on to win six Super Bowls in Foxborough, people would laugh. But in 2023, that is not the case. In the 46-year-old’s own words, he wasn’t a prodigy. However, he had what most lacked, and that was consistency and discipline. Through sheer hard work and dedication, he was able to go toe to toe with Peyton Manning.

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Back then, Brady did not see the Indianapolis Colts quarterback or any other opposition team player as his friend. According to him, in the field of play, only his teammates are his friends, with whom he would go to war.

“I had a few friends, and I could count the number on one hand. Maybe Peyton Manning,” Brady told host Patrick Bet-David at the Vault Conference. “[But] I have had dinner with him twice in 23 years.”

Then he claimed to have a fondness for the Hall of Famer. “I looked up to him so much; I admired Peyton Manning,” he added. “But if we [Patriots] wanted to get where we wanted to go, then we had to go through them. So I had to create something in my mind that he couldn’t be my friend.”

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Head-to-head: Tom Brady and Peyton Manning

Brady and Manning faced off 17 times against each other in the NFL, with Brady’s team winning 11 times. But Manning recorded more passing yards during the course of those matches. The 47-year-old had 4,985 compared to Tom Brady’s 4,323. He also threw more touchdowns, 35 to 32. But the latter had better accuracy, throwing 15 interceptions compared to the former Denver Broncos signal caller’s 22.

“I had dinner with him twice in 23 years!” Tom Brady discloses he wasn’t friends with his ‘biggest rival’ Peyton Manning during their playing days because of his ‘toughness’
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning met 5 times in the playoffs. Manning 3-2 Brady (Image via CBS)

The longest winning streak either of them enjoyed was six by the Brady-led Patriots’ side. Both have remarkable histories on their sides. Tom Brady became the first player to win seven Super Bowls (6 with the Patriots and 1 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

Peyton Manning was the first quarterback to win the Lombardi Trophy with two different franchises (with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and with the Denver Broncos in 2016).

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