Steve Davis: Manning-Brady Rivalry On Last Legs
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will meet for the 17th time Sunday. I would be stunned if it isn't the last.
Looking at Peyton Manning throw the football, it would be hard to imagine that he would delude himself to thinking that coming back would be a good idea. His body is betraying him, and there's only so long his brain can pick up the slack. And thus will end one of the all-time great sports rivalries. Sure, there are often sports rivalries in individual sports. You can list many: Ali-Frazier, Jack-Arnie, Tiger-Phil, Evert-Navratilova, Federer-Nadal, etc. Even individual rivalries for non-humans, like Affirmed and Alydar finishing first and second in all three Triple Crown races in 1978. Don't forget a decade later, Sunday Silence winning the first 2 legs of the Triple Crown and Easy Goer finishing second, only to see Easy Goer deny the Triple Crown, beat Sunday Silence at the Belmont.
However, in team sports, it's rare to see the kind of rivalry that we have had with Manning and Brady. The one that comes to mind is Bird and Magic. In the 1980's, either the Celtics or the Lakers made the Finals every year. In fact, in a span of 9 years, the Magic's Lakers won 5 titles and Bird's Celtics won 3. The two players won. In a span of 7 years, Magic and Bird won 6 of the 7 MVP.s Another rivalry was Gretzky and Lemieux, arguably the best and second best player of all-time. Yet, they never played in the Stanley Cup or even conference finals. Russell and Chamberlain was another rivalry, but it was incredibly one-sided and there were far fewer teams back then so it was easier for the the same two teams to have success.
Certainly, in football, it's hard to come up with two careers that are more closely tied together and where there is better rivalry than Manning and Brady. Savor Sunday, because I think this is it.