Peyton Manning or Tom Brady? There was a time when that was one of the most popular questions in NFL discussions.
Manning was always one of the very best quarterbacks during the regular season, but the Indianapolis Colts had trouble carrying that success into the postseason. Manning finished his career 14-13 in the playoffs and went one-and-done a record nine times. Meanwhile, Brady’s New England Patriots won six Super Bowls across his 20 seasons there, a staggering rate, if not quite the every-January inevitability it felt like at the time.
NFL Feared Manning Over Brady?
While Manning did eventually get Super Bowl rings as a member of the Indianapolis Colts and later the Denver Broncos, many would argue he should have led his team to more championships. Of course, Brady is sitting pretty with seven rings, six from his days with the Patriots and one more prove-it ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But again, who would be the better pick? It’s a debate that NBC Sports’ Chris Simms and Dan Patrick recently squared off for on the ‘Dan Patrick Show.’ Simms stated a pretty good case, backed by insider intel as a former NFL QB himself.
“When I was in buildings, in my prime, the building was way more on edge with Peyton Manning coming to town rather than, ‘Oh, it was just Tom Brady,'” Simms argued. “It was a little more of like ‘Hey, it’s Bill Belichick, we gotta deal with that, yeah we know Brady’s there too, that’s gonna be a handful, we got it’. But I mean, defensive coordinators and defenses, when Manning was coming to town, they were shaking in their boots all week; there was a difference there.”
Simms spent eight seasons in NFL locker rooms as a quarterback with the Buccaneers, Titans and Broncos, so he’s speaking from inside the buildings he’s describing, though it’s worth noting he appeared in 19 career games and was a backup for most of that stretch.
Manning was known for being a human computer out on the football field. He was essentially a coach, playing at an elite level on the field. It was almost unfair to anyone who was forced to try matching wits with him.
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Whether he was making dummy audibles at the line of scrimmage that made opponents second-guess themselves or picking apart a coverage shell before the snap, Manning had a knack for wearing out the other team.
Of course, Brady and Belichick were a dynamic duo, and Tony Dungy’s work in Indianapolis shouldn’t be discounted either. Dungy coached the Colts from 2002 through 2008 and delivered the franchise its Super Bowl XLI title.
If there was something to expose, whether it’s a gap in coverage or a defender’s weakness, chances are, Manning would find it and make the game look like it comes easily to him.
A five-time AP MVP? That’s unheard of. Five separate times, Manning was voted the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player: 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2013. The first of those was shared, as Manning and Titans quarterback Steve McNair were named co-MVPs for the 2003 season. No player has ever won more than five, and the record survived the 2025 season, when Matthew Stafford took home his first.
Manning is also one of only two QBs that has a perfect PFN QB Impact score in his career. The other? Of course, Tom Brady.
Aaron Rodgers has four. Brady won three, as did Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas and Jim Brown, the only four players in league history with exactly three. Favre’s third, in 1997, was shared with Barry Sanders.
Aaron Rodgers has four. Brady won it three times, as did Brett Favre, Johnny Unitas, and Jim Brown. So, when Simms says Manning was viewed as more dangerous inside NFL locker rooms, well, history suggests he’s right.
