NEW ORLEANS — The “Peyton vs. Brady” NFL quarterback case has been argued 14 times previously at various levels of the NFL judicial system, and Archie Manning, a friend of the court, has some advice for a nation of Supreme Court watchers: Sit back and enjoy.
“Honestly, maybe it’s just the parent in me, but I don’t enjoy all the hoopla about a Peyton [Manning]-[Tom] Brady matchup,” said Manning, patriarch of the NFL’s version of Duck Dynasty. “I tried to teach my kids [Peyton and Eli] that it’s not an individual game, it’s a team game. I know we have so much media now — we have so many writers and radio and TV — and it makes a good conversation.
“I think Peyton said it the other day, and I know Tom is the same way — it’s the Patriots and the Broncos. If you go out and just try to outperform another quarterback, that’s not the way the game is structured.”
The stakes couldn’t be higher for the two iconic, future Hall of Fame quarterbacks who will stare down each other in the AFC Championship Game Sunday in Denver. Brady has gotten the best of Peyton 10 times in their previous 14 meetings, but Archie said he knows from bitter experience, playing with the sad-sack Saints in the 1970s, that quarterbacks don’t always determine the outcome.
“I remember one time when I was playing here and we weren’t very good,” Archie said. “We went up to Pittsburgh and I had a good game. Well, Pittsburgh beat us in the last second. Well, the news in New Orleans was that I outperformed Terry Bradshaw. Well, baloney. I had better stats, but we didn’t win the game. I just never have gotten much into quarterback battles.”
Still, Archie and his wife Olivia are amazed by the way in which Peyton, at age 36, resurrected his career over the last two years following delicate neck surgery that sapped his arm strength and reduced him to someone having to relearn how to throw the football. Peyton will turn 38 on March 27.
Asked what has impressed him the most about his son’s record-breaking return the last two seasons, Archie said it was the way in which Peyton handled “the overall transition.”
“He kind of felt like he was playing out of a different body, and I think I understand what he was saying there,” Archie said. “I was with him some when he first started throwing, kind of starting over from scratch again. He went to Duke and he and [former Tennessee offensive coordinator] David Cutcliffe started over again. He was 36, but it was kind of like he was 12 throwing the football.
“That was the physical part. Then you add in new team, new offense, new teammates, new city. He’s had a lot of help, and it’s a real blessing that he’s playing again.”
Archie said he and Olivia never had doubts Peyton could return to play at a high level, but they were reassured when Peyton came to New Orleans for a “face-to-face” before embarking on his offseason workouts two years ago following his neck surgery.
“I was very proud of his attitude,” Archie said. “He told us he was going to work at this thing, and he was going to try to play again, but if the doctors said he couldn’t, then he was going to sign off. He wasn’t going to go against the doctors and wasn’t going to push it if it wasn’t going to work. So that gave us confidence that he was going to try as hard as he could, but if it didn’t work out, it’s over.”
Does being 4-10 against the Patriots place even more pressure on Peyton?
“I don’t think so,” Archie said. “Once again, everybody has to have something to talk about. Peyton’s played enough football to know that pressure just makes it hard. He says, ‘Just prepare and go play.’ That’s always been his motto, and that’s Tom Brady’s motto. That’s what the good ones do.”
Archie said if Peyton were to go on to win his second Super Bowl ring, he doesn’t think his son would do a John Elway and retire.
“I don’t think he’s had those thoughts.” Archie said. “He wasn’t healthy all year, but it wasn’t his neck or his arm — he’s had some ankles that were bothering him. The fact that he’s played well and had a good year, I don’t think he’s entertained any thought of that.”