There’s a stark contrast between how the fans of Denver and New England are preparing for this weekend’s ultimate showdown between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
Here, in Denver, Broncos fans are terrified. They’re terrified of Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Bill Belichick and everything the Patriots represent. Why? Because, for all the hate this great city may have for “crybaby” Brady, Denver respects the Patriots; it’s hard not to.
In New England, that respect is not reciprocated — at all.
On Tuesday, Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe wrote a piece entitled: “Peyton Manning getting no respect around here.” It was harsh.
According to Shaughnessy, the great people of Boston might be a little more worried if they were facing Brian Hoyer or Brandon Weeden; they’ve already booked their flights to San Francisco, and the only quarterbacks they’re worrying about are Cam Newton and Carson Palmer.
“Poor Peyton,” Shaughnessy writes. “Nine touchdown passes, 17 interceptions this season. Smart guys are calling for Denver coach Gary Kubiak to go with Brock Osweiler. Manning can’t break a pane of glass with his jelly arm. We clock the hang time of his passes. He’s throwing better knucklers than R.A. Dickey.
“Manning is a 39-year-old Tiger Woods, stripped of dignity and health, unable to make the cut,” Shaughnessy continues. “He is Pedro Martinez, struggling to make his final start with the Phillies in the 2009 World Series. He is a damaged Muhammad Ali enduring a beating from Larry Holmes in Vegas in 1980. He is 41-year-old Bob Cousy making a seven-game comeback with the Cincinnati Royals in 1969.”
The fact that Manning has dethroned Brady in each of their last two playoff matchups means nothing to the people of Boston. The fact that Brady, the greatest quarterback in NFL history, holds a 2-6 lifetime record at Mile High (0-2 in the postseason) means nothing to the people of Boston.
And while Brady will put on a smile and exclaim that Manning is the greatest rival he’s ever faced, he’s no different; he thinks Manning’s done, too.
“I’ve got another 7 or 8 years,” Brady wrote in an email that was made public during Deflategate. “He has 2. That’s the final chapter.’’
As Shaughnessy writes, “Manning is universally mocked in New England.” Patriots fans, sitting on their thrown of ease, look at Manning and feel more “pity” than fear. They consider him more of a “game manager” than Alex Smith, the man who basically coined the term.
New England has no respect for Peyton Manning.
And that’s just the way Denver should want it.
When Brandon Marshall and Antonio Smith called Tom Brady a “crybaby,” Boston was thrown into an uproar, before classifying their words as classic bulletin board material. But if that’s bulletin board material, then all this disrespect towards Manning is Jumbotron material.
As the great Monty Python gave us, “I’m not dead yet!,” and neither is Peyton Manning. You’d be wise to remember that, Boston.
