Dungy says Brady only 6th-hardest quarterback to defend

TAMPA - The Colts-Patriots rivalry was one of the best in the NFL for years.

The two teams have combined for seven Super Bowl wins (six by the Patriots) and 11 AFC championships (nine by the Patriots) since 2001.

At the center of them was Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (who went on to play in two more Super Bowls, winning one, with the Broncos).

It’s no secret why former Colts and Bucs coach Tony Dungy would favor Manning over Brady.

But when asked to rank the hardest quarterbacks to defend, Dungy listed Brady at No. 6.

“First of all, I don’t think you can rank across generations, anyway,” Dungy said. “So I’m not going to do that and I’m not going to go by statistics or whatever.

“I’m going to go by who was the toughest on me. So now I’ve got to start, I’m never putting Tom Brady ahead of Peyton Manning, so the best he can be is 2. Peyton was my guy.

“Who gave me more problems? John Elway, you could do everything right and have the prefect defense, he’s going to move around and make something happen and kill you. And he killed me enough. He was difficult. Steve Young was the same way. Those mobile quarterbacks.

“That’s who I put a head of Tom — Aaron Rodgers. John Elway. Steve Young, guys who could move. Not to say Tom wasn’t great. He is great. But that extra dimension meant something to me. So that’s why I would only put him at 6. It’s just my opinion.”

Brady saw the video and simply tweeted out a picture of the Colts banner displayed at Lucas Oil Stadium that reads, “2014 AFC Finalist.”

Brady and the Patriots beat Dungy’s Colts 45-7 in the AFC Championship Game that year before going on to beat the Seahawks 28-24 in Super Bowl XLIX.