Brady Bests Manning, As Usual: Does It Qualify As A Rivalry When One Side Always Wins?
Is it finally time to stop pretending like this is really a rivalry?
As cliche as it sounds, last night’s game between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos was truly the tale of two halves. Peyton Manning and company dominated early, thanks in large part to a slew of Patriots mistakes, while Tom Brady, as usual, dominated late and walked away with the win.
The Brady-Manning rivalry is often touted as one of the greatest player rivalries in NFL history, which is strange considering it hasn’t been much of a competition. The last time Manning won was a one-point squeaker back in 2009 and the loss on Sunday gives Brady the decisive 10-4 edge.
With the Patriots supposedly in a down year, having been decimated by injuries; this one should’ve been different for Manning. Sure, they were playing in New England, but the Broncos have been the presumed AFC Super Bowl team for more than a full calendar year at this point. It just seemed like his turn.
Tom Brady was feeling the heat early on.
And it sure seemed like his turn through the first 40 minutes of play. The Pats lost fumbles on each of their first three possessions and Broncos linebacker Von Miller secured a permanent place in Brady’s nightmares; first with a fumble returned 60 yards for a touchdown and then a strip-sack of Brady which set up another TD.
All told, the Patriots actually fumbled the ball six times, but were able to recover three of them. Manning was pedestrian at best, leaning heavily on the suddenly unstoppable veteran running back Knowshon Moreno. The Broncos went into the locker room at halftime up 24-0, thanks almost entirely to the play of Miller and Moreno.
Things went downhill rapidly for the Broncos in the second half.
Then came the second half, which was literally the exact opposite of the first. The Broncos started fumbling and the Patriots starting scoring. And in a stunning turn of events, they turned a seemingly insurmountable deficit into a 28-24 lead just two minutes into the fourth quarter.
New England tacked on three points more with a Stephen Gostkowski field goal around the midway point. Four minutes later Manning pulled an 80-yard drive out of nowhere—by far his best of the night—allowing Denver to tie it up at 31 and ultimately force the game into overtime.
It was not a happy homecoming for Wes Welker.
Enter Wes Welker. It was his first trip back to Gillette Stadium since not being re-signed by the Patriots in the offseason and there’s no doubt he wanted to make it memorable. Just not memorable in the way it ended up being.
With time ticking down in OT, Welker went back to field a punt, something he’s been doing on a weekly basis for years now. It was the first time all night he seemed to catch the attention of every fan in attendance.
Their chants of “Wellllllll-kerrrrrr, Wellllllll-kerrrrrr” were as audibly clear to the television audience as the inane musings of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.
It was hero or zero time for Welker and he came down comfortably within zero territory. With just over three minutes left in OT, Welker hesitated in his decision to let the ball bounce on a punt.
He didn’t wave off teammate Tony Carter in time to stop him from making contact with the ball, allowing New England to recover.
Already in field goal range, it took the Patriots just three plays to seal the deal on the biggest comeback victory in franchise history. And once again, Brady further solidified his reputation as an ice cold killer who is never really out of a game until there’s no time left on the clock.
As for Manning, he solidified his rather unfortunate reputation as the greatest regular season quarterback of all time. A guy whose numbers never stop climbing, but usually craps out when the pressure’s on.
Definitely not the feeling Manning, or anyone within the Broncos organization, wants to be dealing with in late November. The uniform may have changed, but so far the narrative remains largely the same.
Some Manning defenders will say the loss was no big deal—after all, Denver is still first in their division—and that’s fair.
That being said, these two teams may very well meet in the AFC Championship game in January and if it ends anything like this one, it could be the singular loss that ultimately defines Manning’s career.
At that point, we’ll finally be able to close the book on this whole rivalry thing. It’s not a rivalry if one side always wins—it’s yet another poor bastard suffering yet another Tom Brady Shellackingâ„¢.
