No two quarterbacks have been more successful in this century than Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Together, they both account for eight Super Bowl rings in 11 appearances over the last 20 years. Unsurprisingly, they were both named to the NFL’s All-Time Team.
The heated playoff rivalry between the two quarterbacks in the early 2000s was one of the most intense back-and-forths in recent memory, but Brady told NFL Network on Friday that despite the rivalry, he and Manning were great friends off the field.
Brady recalled one offseason in which the two quarterbacks met for “at least two to three days” and talked nothing but football the entire time.
Yes, @tombrady got and emulated something from Peyton Manning and used it to help make @RobGronkowski a Hall of Famer and win a ton of games for @patriots
Amazing story. pic.twitter.com/NBJhFcEhFo
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 28, 2019
Brady revealed that he learned a lot from Manning in those days, from his highly-structured workout to the dig route concept. But the greatest thing that Brady says he took from Manning that offseason was the counter hot pass protection.
In counter hot, the play would call for either the guard or the center to pull on a play action “and they would throw a couple combinations off it,” according to Brady.
Following the meeting, Brady immediately went to then-Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien to implement the protection, which the team would end up using heavily with Rob Gronkowski.
“Rob Gronkowski has probably 50% of his offensive production on that play,” Brady said. “So to use that play against (Manning) as well as to basically have Rob become a dominant player in the league off of that particular play is thanks to Peyton Manning.”
It’s always interesting to see how the best learn from the best in professional sports.
