Tom Brady Adds New Fire to Rivalry with Peyton Manning

If Indianapolis Colts fans didn’t already have enough reasons to hate New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, they certainly do now. What was seemingly an endless list of reasons as to why Colts fans simply loathe Brady, just got even longer.

According to ESPN, several e-mail messages from Tom Brady have been made public as a result of his federal DeflateGate lawsuit, including one that talks a certain degree of trash regarding a former beloved Colts quarterback named Peyton Manning:

"“The candid email, dated Nov. 1, 2014 — the Saturday before Brady’s Patriots routed Manning’s Broncos 43-21 in a Week 9 game at Foxborough — is part of two Brady messages published Wednesday by The Boston Globe,” notes ESPN. “The emails were submitted among documents in the NFLPA’s suit over his four-game suspension.”“Thanks popa, Brady writes to childhood friend Kevin Brady during an email exchange discussing a Grantland story that illustrated a decline for Manning in comparing the two quarterbacks. ‘I’ve got another 7 or 8 years. He has 2. That’s the final chapter. Game on.”"

While Brady is likely accurate in his assessment that Manning probably doesn’t have many years left, no one’s going to want him throwing around a football when he’s 45 years old either. Is Brady really going to play past the age of 40?

Not when Brady’s already starting to lose noticeable zip on his deep ball. According to ProFootballFocus (subscription), Brady completed just 33.3% of his deep passes in the NFL, which was tied for the 17th best in the NFL among starting quarterbacks. That tied him with the likes of Kyle Orton, Andy Dalton, and Colin Kaepernick, which is not exactly elite company, especially coming off Kaepernick’s rough season.

Don’t get me wrong, Brady’s still an elite quarterback in other facets of his game. However, if certain aspects of his game have considerably diminished at 38, what will they look like at 45?

Maybe they were made in jest, but Brady’s comments seem overly ambitious at first glance. The heralded rivalry between Peyton Manning and him always appeared to be one of mutual respect and maybe it still is, but Brady has added more fuel to this fire that wasn’t readily apparent otherwise.

Nov 2, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; A fan holds up a sign about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning during the fourth quarter of New England

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