QBs fame at stake at Peyton's place
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New England tight end Rob Gronkowski - the latest in a line of Woodland Hills players to get to the Super Bowl - faces the throngs of media day Tuesday in Indianapolis. The health of Gronkowski's ankle is one of the main story lines of Super Bowl week. He was evasive in his answers.
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INDIANAPOLIS -- It's Brady vs. Manning again, a pairing that evokes comparisons from the past such as ... Brady vs. Manning, the Peyton version. Or, on the historical stage that will be the Super Bowl, Staubach vs. Bradshaw and Kelly vs. Aikman.
This Super Bowl carries more juice than usual for the quarterbacks involved, abetted by the drama unfolding in the backyard corral that belongs to the Indianapolis Colts and their old, seemingly broken down former racehorse, Peyton Manning.
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady had enough classic duels of their own through the years, Brady nearly always surviving those and enhancing his reputation in Super Bowls. Little Manning -- Eli -- managed to stop the great Brady and the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl four years ago.
Sunday, Eli Manning can join Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman as the only quarterbacks to sweep the only quarterback pairings that squared off twice in Super Bowls. Bradshaw's Steelers beat Roger Staubach's Dallas Cowboys twice, and Aikman's Cowboys beat Jim Kelly's Buffalo Bills twice.
It also might be of some importance that all four quarterbacks are now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that Brady is headed there and that Eli Manning can make a strong pitch to someday join his brother in Canton with another Giants victory Sunday.
So, when it comes to quarterbacks, this game promises to be one for the ages with reputations riding on the outcome.
Leave it to Chad Brown to put it all into perspective. He was a Pro Bowl linebacker for the Steelers and Seattle Seahawks before he joined the New England Patriots toward the end of his career. He is in Indianapolis as a sports talk-show host on Denver's KKFN-FM (104.3). If Brady wins his fourth Super Bowl and joins Bradshaw and Joe Montana as the only four-time quarterback champs ... ?
"In my mind, it solidifies him as the best quarterback of all time," Brown said. "It's interesting that so much can hinge on one game because, if Eli Manning wins, if he beats Tom Brady twice, and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick prevented Peyton from winning more than one Super Bowl, Eli with a victory here, is not only able to surpass Tom Brady [head to head] but his brother.
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
