We are now just days away from the biggest game of Tom Brady and Eli Manning’s careers, as each quarterback will be playing for a spot in NFL history. There’s no question that conversation about the best signal-caller ever would immediately start if Brady wins his fourth Super Bowl title, joining Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana. For Manning, there’s also plenty to play for, from a personal standpoint as well as a historic one.
Ever since he step foot in the league, much of the criticism and talk has been about Eli living up to the family name. currently tied with his brother Peyton in terms of Super Bowl wins, winning one more would elevate him into a very prestigious category his older brother isn’t even a part of: quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl rings.
In fact, at the present time, only ten quarterbacks have been able to win two or more Vince Lombardi Trophies. Eli could become the 11th guy to accomplish such feat, joining names like John Elway, Ben Roethlisberger, Bob Griese, Jim Plunkett, Roger Staubach and Bart Starr. But more so than joining that club, Eli would never be asked any other question or have to live under the shadow of his brother Peyton.
If anything, it would become the exact opposite scenario, in which Peyton may be the one trying to catch up to his little brother. One guy that isn’t trying to catch-up to anyone these days is Tom Brady.
Already regarded as the top best three quarterbacks in the history of football, what Brady is playing for now is the title of the greatest ever. And although having that conversation is still very much premature, the fact that he’s only 34 years old would indicate that he should have at least one more crack at another Super Bowl. Brady will face a very pressuring defense before he can join Bradshaw and Montana, and many people are betting on the turnover battle being the difference in this game.
“Quarterbacks never try to turn the ball over, and if there’s one thing that correlates to winning games, it’s turnovers. To turn the ball over two times like I did, I didn’t feel like that was certainly my best performance,” Brady said of his struggles in the AFC Championship game. “[But] I wish I didn’t say it because I didn’t want to take away from what the team had accomplished, and certainly we had accomplished a lot to get to this point in the season and to be a very good team in the AFC Championship Game.
“To fight back like we did — we were down in that game — I think we’ve proven that we’re a pretty mentally tough team. We’re trying to put our best out there this weekend.”
Brady was as critical as anyone of his performance, outright telling the world that he had sucked in that game against the Ravens. For as much as people may perceive him as being this cocky guy who thinks is above everyone, people were shocked to hear him be so harsh on himself. Nevertheless, the people that are with him every day in practice know the real Tom Brady. You have to believe that being this critical and self-aware is exactly what is needed to make changes not only in football but in life as a whole.
“Tom is a humble person and he is a realist,” said patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. “He’s not going to go up there and act like he played in his best game when he didn’t. I think that’s how it should be. He is accountable to how he played and what he does.
“I feel like that is great that he did that. I don’t think he sucked in that game because he also is a reason we stayed in the game and won the game. He wants to play (at the level of) the best quarterback of all time, in every game, and he is probably the best quarterback to play the game.”
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