Top 5 NFL quarterbacks with the most losses against Tom Brady

Tom Brady's control over the NFL has vanquished some of pro football's most famous quarterbacks.

Thanks to Brady, legends of the game like Phillip Rivers, Steve McNair and Matt Ryan have been denied Super Bowl rings through Brady's time in New England. His new endeavors in Tampa Bay continue to haunt Ryan, with Matthew Stafford and Dak Prescott also among the potential new victims in a new home conference. The 271 wins Brady has earned in both the regular season and the postseason represent the best tally in NFL history by far.

Which QBs have been Brady's most common victims?

T-4: Phillip Rivers (8)

Brady and Rivers meet after the 2008 AFC title game (Photo: Getty)

Whether he represented San Diego or Los Angeles, Brady had Rivers' number.

What makes Rivers' case so heartbreaking is that he was the only quarterback Brady vanquished three times in the postseason, the most prominent occurrence being the 2007-08 AFC Championship Game. Rivers was 1-8 all-time against Brady's Patriots... and the only victory came in 2008, when the arguable GOAT was sidelined with an injury.

T-4: Chad Pennington (8)

Brady and Pennington engage in prayer after the 2007 AFC Wild Card playoffs (Photo: Getty)

Between 2001 and 2019, the only teams to win the AFC East were quarterbacked by either Brady or Pennington.

Pennington, Brady's star-crossed divisional rival, accounted for only two of those titles (2002 with the New York Jets and 2008 with the Miami Dolphins), but he was able to create a sizable NFL career despite numerous injuries. Though Pennington earned only two wins against a Brady-led squad, he was one of only ten quarterbacks to earn at least three victories over the Patriots during Brady's Foxboro reign (one of which came when Brady was injured in 2008).

3: Ben Roethlisberger (9)

Brady and Roethlisberger after the 2017 AFC title game (Photo: Getty)

Roethlisberger saved the best for the first. In his fifth career start, Big Ben earned a big win on Halloween 2004, throwing two touchdown passes in a 34-20 victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game best known for ending the New England's record 21-game winning streak in the NFL. Alas, Brady not only had his revenge later that season — topping Roethlisberger and the Steelers in the AFC title game — but he wouldn't allow Big Ben to beat him again until the late stages of the 2018 season (though Roethlisberger was another constant victim who took advantage of Brady's medical departure in 2008).

If both Brady and Roethlisberger stick around for another year, another matchup between the pair is scheduled for Pittsburgh in 2022.

2. Ryan Fitzpatrick (10)

Fitzpatrick and Brady after a December 2016 meeting in New England (Photo: Getty)

No matter where the well-traveled Fitzpatrick ended up, he couldn't escape the ire of Brady, whose AFC East monopoly positioned him in a matchup with the Harvard alum on 13 occasions, making him his most common regular-season foe. Fitzpatrick is a Flying Elvis helmet away from completing divisional bingo, as his NFL career has taken him to the eastern haunts of Buffalo, Miami, and New York, earning one win against Brady and the Patriots at each locale. Despite his lack of success on the scoreboard, Fitzpatrick has earned 21 career touchdown passes against the Patriots, his best tally against any opponent.

1. Peyton Manning (11)

Brady and Manning after their final postseason meeting in 2016 (Photo: Getty)

Conjoined at the gridiron hip by their shared greatness, Brady and Manning staged one of the greatest and longest-running individual showdowns in NFL history. Brady's first NFL triumph, in fact, came against Manning: his first full-time substitution effort in place of Drew Bledsoe led to a 44-13 blowout win over the Colts in September 2001. Their get-togethers spanned three cities, with Manning's greatness taking him to both Indianapolis and Denver. Though Brady won 13 of the 19 regular season showdowns, Manning denied Brady three additional Super Bowl rings. Along with his brother Eli and former Baltimore Raven Joe Flacco, Manning is part of an exclusive club that has beaten Brady in the postseason more than once.