Tom Brady Channeled Peyton Manning at Patriots Celebration?

New England Patriots can thank old enemy Peyton Manning for one of the most electrifying moments of last Sunday's farewell to Tom Brady.

Tom Brady won't return to an NFL field this season, but still had one more audible left in him. 

Brady opened his retirement ceremony at Gillette Stadium on Sunday in familiar fashion: donning his No. 12 New England Patriots jersey one last time, he engaged in his gameday tradition of running down the sideline and shouting "Let's go!" before kickoff, much to the delight of an adoring public honoring his innumerable contributions to the franchise.

.@TomBrady's still got it 😏@InsideTheNFL | @Patriots pic.twitter.com/urDsQ7FgmN

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) September 11, 2023

Anyone who wanted to "go" one more time could thank an unlikely source: Peyton Manning.

Brady spoke about his entrance on, appropriately enough, his SiriusXM show entitled "Let's Go!" on Monday, revealing that bringing his long-standing introduction out of retirement was a decision made hours before he took the field. Still questioning how he could exit Gillette Stadium in style, Brady Googled the way his passing rival and contemporary Manning said goodbye to his own original football dwelling of Indianapolis. 

As it turns out, Manning brought a bit of Sunday familiarity back to an Indianapolis Colts game when the horseshoes retired his No. 18. 

"He goes up on stage, says great things like he always does," Brady recalled. "(He) gets off the stage, (former Colts center) Saturday snaps him the ball and he fires a post to (former Colts receiver) Reggie (Wayne) … he hits Reggie in the end zone. So I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do something fun that the crowd’s gonna really like.’"

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Brady likely would've earned cheers no matter what he did on Sunday in Foxborough, but fans nonetheless rejoiced upon seeing him bring back one of the most time-honored New England traditions. At the center of it was Manning, even if the longtime Patriots rival was nowhere to be found on Sunday.

"Peyton, I will say," Brady declared. 'Even though you weren’t there, you were a part of that celebration for me yesterday.”

Frequently listed as two of the most dominant and accomplished quarterbacks of the new century, Brady and Manning met 17 times during their respective NFL careers. Many of their meetings had direct impacts on the AFC's playoff picture, including five postseason games. Though Manning had a 3-2 advantage in the playoffs, Brady posted an 11-6 record overall.