Peyton Manning acknowledges Tom Brady attending Hall of Fame induction

Peyton Manning will have a bevy of notable guests on hand in Canton on Sunday when he accepts the coveted gold jacket at the 2021 NFL Hall of Fame ceremony on Sunday. The first-ballot quarterback joined the FOX broadcast booth during the annual Hall of Fame game Thursday night.

As Troy Aikman and Joe Buck interviewed Manning on live television, the former Colts and Broncos signal caller admitted the reports were true.

Tom Brady, his longtime nemesis and rival, will be at Canton to honor Manning’s accomplishment.

“It’s an honor for me to have so many old teammates, even got some old rivals,” Manning joked during the FOX broadcast. of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys preseason opener. “Tom Brady is sitting in my section. I’m not sure how my Colts teammates are going to feel about that, but it means a lot that he’s taking the time to fly out here to Canton and celebrate with me.”

It felt a bit strange to hear Manning acknowledge the news that was reported a day earlier. Does Brady just give Manning a call and say he will be in Canton this weekend? Is there some sort of invitation involved?

NBC Sports ranked Manning vs. Brady as the top sports rivalry of all time.

“Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were divided as rivals from 2001-2015, competing each season for the AFC crown. Brady always with the Patriots, Manning with the Colts and later the Broncos,” said Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, who originally broke the story. Their matchup compares favorably to the greatest sports rivalries of all time, as legendary as Magic Johnson-Larry Bird, Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier or Phil Mickelson-Tiger-Woods.

For well more than a decade, the two quarterbacks competed time after time, often on the biggest NFL stages. They met 17 times from 2001-2015.54

Brady won the head-to-head series 11–6. From 2001 to 2015, the two quarterbacks met at least once every season, except 2002, 2008, and 2011 (While Brady’s Patriots and Manning’s Colts played each other in 2008 and 2011, 

The two quarterbacks met five times in the NFL Playoffs, in which Manning won three of them. Four of the five match-ups were in the AFC Championship Game, with Manning winning three of the four, one of the games with the Colts (2006) and another two with the Broncos (2013, 2015). The winner of each of the playoff match-ups went on to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. Four of the teams, Brady’s 2003 and 2004 Patriots and Manning’s 2006 Colts and 2015 Broncos went on to win the Super Bowl, while Manning’s 2013 Broncos lost the game. 

Are Peyton Manning and Tom Brady friends or foes?

Each sports rivalry is unique, but there’s a typical common theme. Respect for the game and the opponent, though it’s unlikely Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were taking weekend vacations during the height of their reign in boxing,

So what about Manning and Brady?

Longtime Colts assistant Clyde Christensen provided a behind-the-scenes into the relationship

“Even before Manning’s playing career ended, he was forging a close, personal relationship with Brady,” Christensen told Stroud.

“There was no peer to talk to that understood what they were going through except each other,” Christensen said. “The demands, the lights, the pressure — all those things. They had a little summit where they worked out together and they threw together and they trained together and then they’d sit and talk, and they had a great list of topics they went through. How do you work out now? How do you handle blitz packages? How do you handle a difficult receiver? How do you handle the media?

Looking back at all of the heated battles, it’s almost difficult to envision this scene. Still, almost any NFL fan would love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations.

“For the great ones, it’s about getting better and playing great, and they do bring that out in each other. Also, they’re willing to help each other. No one but Brady and Manning pull that off, and nobody knew about it,” Christensen said.

There’s no doubt it will be both strange, but incredibly special as Brady celebrates with Manning on Sunday.