It’s Colts vs. Patriots week in the NFL, which means we’ll see plenty of stories about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Today Brady got some laughs when he addressed reporters and told the story of the first time he met Manning, which happened to be the day Brady first started in place of the injured Drew Bledsoe. Brady wasn’t a particularly well known player at the time, while Manning was already a two-time Pro Bowler, so Brady thought it was sort of unnecessary for Manning to tell him his name.
“My first start came against the Colts,” Brady said. “And Peyton came over on our field and said, ‘Hey, Peyton Manning.’ And I said, ‘no shit.’'"
Since that first meeting, Brady said, he’s come to admire Manning as both a person and a quarterback.
“I’m always keeping up on Peyton,” Brady said. “We talk from time to time and I have a lot of respect for him as a player, for the role model he is, the way he carries himself, the way he leads his team, the way he’s a representative for the league.”
Manning also told reporters he respects Brady, especially the way he’s playing this year after last season’s knee injury.
“You can’t tell that he missed last year with major knee surgery,” Manning said of Brady, as seen on NFL Network’s Around the League. “He picked right up where he left off the year before.”