Even so, there are enough contrasts between them to fill a book or two. In fact, for just about their entire careers, they’ve been compared to each other and have inspired more bar room arguments than politics. Until last year, the last word for Brady fans was that maybe he didn’t put up passing numbers like Manning did, but he had three rings and Manning had none.

Now, the winning issue has been settled. Manning’s the one on the winning streak in the rivalry and he’s the one with the most recently minted ring.

But just as Manning has proved himself a winner, Brady, supplied at last with a corps of fast and sure-handed receivers, has proved himself to be the equal of Manning in the stat department. He’s carrying a 132 passer rating into this game and is on pace to break Manning’s single-season touchdown record with a couple of games to spare in the season.

Quarterbacks, like pitchers, always tell you they’re not playing the other quarterback, they’re playing the other team. But the winner of this game is going to be able to claim at least until the playoffs the upper hand in their back-and-forth rivalry that will take both to the Hall of Fame.

But while they may be similar on the field, off it, they present different images for different fans. Manning, the star of more commercials than any living person, is the clean-living family man; Brady is a member of the supermodel-of-the-month club and, while he has a child, he doesn’t have a wife, much less a family. He’s no Joe Namath – he doesn’t own a gin mill with a clientele of mobsters – but compared to Manning, he’s an absolute wastrel.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures A kayaker flips out, a racehorse eyes the Triple Crown and more. more photos

Finally, as if you needed another reason to watch, there’s the whole undefeated business. As we’re reminded every year a team gets to around the midway point of the season without a loss, only one team has run the table on the season – the 1972 Miami Dolphins. And whoever wins this one is going to have the best chance since the 1985 Bears to join the Fish.

The last time two 7-0 teams met in the regular season of the NFL was in the leather-helmet days. And every year, thanks to parity, it gets harder to put together a super team capable of doing that.

And now we’ve got two, and they’re meeting on Sunday.

I’d say that alone makes it the Game of the Century.

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