Brady on admiration for Manning: 'I mean, he is older than me'

Tom Brady doesn’t exactly need to be waterboarded to throw bouquets at Peyton Manning.

Wednesday morning, he verbalized his appreciation for Manning and the Denver quarterback’s way of doing things.

“Every week it’s so consistent, you can just count on a great performance,” Brady offered. “A lot of people who have played don’t do it on a consistent basis. When you see someone who does it at a high level, I have a lot of appreciation for that. I understand what it takes. It’s not just a daily commitment, it’s a life commitment. Every decision you make is a conscious decision to try and help your team win, whether that’s in March, whether that’s in September, November. You just can’t flip the switch when it matters. You’ve gotta communicate that to all your teammates. The competition is always on. It never goes away. You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. I’ve always respected him because he’s someone who’s chosen to get better.”

Brady and Manning will be inextricably linked long after their retirements. But Brady didn’t cop to following Manning’s every move and using Manning as motivation.

“I’m pretty self-motivated,” he pointed out. “He’s always been someone I’ve really looked up to, studied and admired. He is older than me . . . maybe when I’m his age I’ll be playing as well as that.”

Manning’s presence on Sunday is only relevant in that Brady knows he can’t have an off game.

“You just know you’re gonna get one of the best offenses in the league, so what that means to me is our offense has to be at our best,” Brady explained. “You can’t think you’re gonna go out and score 10 points and win the game. I don’t think any of our games have really come down to that. It’s really an important week for our team and all of us on offense have to play our best because we know we’re playing against one of the best offenses in the league.”

While a lesser team would provide an easier challenge, Brady said he doesn’t tire of playing the elite.

“You wait a year to play this game,” he said. “You got one of the best teams in the league against us and we feel we’re a pretty good team. It’s why you play the game. Doesn’t get any better than this.”

-- Tom E. Curran, CSNNE.com