I've played with some of the best that have ever played, obviously. I don't know if there is anybody that is a better technician than Peyton Manning. Tom Brady is another quarterback that I was fortunate enough to play with for a bunch of years.
With any player, especially at quarterback, I don't care if you're talking Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Drew Brees: you want to make sure to continue to hammer down the fundamentals, and it all starts with your feet. Everything starts with footwork.
If you play against a Peyton Manning, that's a great quarterback, but I'd rather have that quarterback that stays still. You have a better chance of getting to him. The mobile quarterbacks, they do a lot of different stuff.
I think he supersedes Peyton Manning but let's not throw Tom Brady in the category with Joe Montana, who was 4-for-4. He's royalty.
You watch the great quarterbacks like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers. They all play so fast, but it's under control because they know what the defense is presenting to them before it happens. It allows them to anticipate things a little quicker, and that makes all the difference in the world.
Say I had been with a guy like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Drew Brees all of my career. Are you kidding me?
I played to the best of my ability. Played to win and was fortunate enough to have won a Stanley Cup and a couple gold medals and played on some really good teams... I'm not going to look back and say I wish I could have done this or that.
He's been so successful, arguably the best quarterback ever to play the game. If you were trying to follow his footsteps, it would be incredibly difficult. I'd go crazy if I woke up every day and tried to compare myself to Peyton Manning.
Just after I retired, Michael Vick came in. And just as background, I really thought the position had changed. I thought the dynamic pass-run, triple-threat quarterback was going to take over the league. And guys like Michael Vick and others would follow and that's what we'd do. But I learned the truth with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Anybody can be rattled. Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but at the end of the day, he is just a quarterback. It's not like he is God.
You have to remember that I played longer than anybody else on the main tour; I played until I was 40, and then played another six years or so on the seniors tour.
You know what, Tom Brady is unlike any quarterback I have ever followed or covered. He is shattering every mold of how a franchise quarterback should be on and off the field. He's just different.
Well you always want to play against the best. That's what you're going to get in the Super Bowl. To go against guys like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady who I have tons of respect for; I watch their games, I study their games, I try to learn from them. It gets you excited, but hopefully not too excited. Just focus on the game. Then when my career is done then I can look back at it.
Obviously Tom Brady is a great quarterback.
You play against an opponent so much the numbers got to match at some point! I played against the Raiders six years straight pretty much. I played against them more than any team I've ever played.
Tom Brady blew me away. Who's the most famous athlete of our generation: Tom Brady? LeBron? Messi? Ronaldo? Serena Williams? Maybe I haven't been around enough to know how the biggest stars really act. But Brady is a normal guy.
I draw a lot of comparisons with Cam Newton and E.J. Manuel. But for the mental part, I like to view myself as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and those guys. Because they're so ahead of everyone else when it comes to that part of the game.