Brady, 41, and Rivers, 37, set to square off in Senior Bowl
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady typically shrugs off any mention of records or milestones.
But even he had to chuckle at the one he and Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers will mark when they meet Sunday.
Brady, who will be 41 years and 163 days old, and Rivers, at 37 years and 36 days old, will combine to be the oldest pair of quarterbacks to face each other in an NFL playoff game, breaking the mark Brady held with Peyton Manning. “Nice,” Brady said. “Nice and old.” Sunday will be just the fourth playoff meeting between the teams, with the Patriots holding a 2-1 edge.
Rivers enters Sunday with a 1-7 record against the Patriots, including 0-4 in games in Foxborough and 0-2 in the playoffs. Rivers earned his lone victory against the Patriots in 2008. Brady wasn’t playing because of a knee injury, and Matt Cassel started in his place. Brady is 7-0 as a starter against Rivers.
The Patriots, who captured their 10th consecutive AFC East title this season, will be seeking their eighth consecutive trip to the AFC Championship Game. The Chargers haven’t been to the conference title game since losing 21-12 to the Patriots during the 2007 season.
Rivers played in that game just days removed from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He limped his way through it while being intercepted twice and failing to throw a touchdown pass.
That toughness is typical for a quarterback who hasn’t missed a game since becoming the Chargers’ starter in 2006.
Rivers, who led his team to five wins in its last six regular-season games and a road win at Baltimore in the wild-card round last week, said he has tried to keep past shortcomings against the Patriots out of his mind this week.
“It’s not something you think about a whole lot,” he said. “It exists and it’s there, but again, and I mean this, I don’t feel that I’m playing Tom. Certainly, it’s a Tom Brady-led team, and we know how things work with the quarterback and the head coach that have the record attached to it. We’ve got a heck of a challenge.”