Tom Brady once brutally trolled Eli Manning on ex-NFL QB's Twitter debut - "Never showed up until the 4th quarter anyway"

Tom Brady and Eli Manning have one of the most interesting rivalries in the NFL. The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers swatted away all comers in the league enroute to winning seven Super Bowls. But he could not defeat the New York Giants former quarterback when it mattered the most.

Twice, when playing for the New England Patriots, Tom Brady fell at the final hurdle to Eli Manning. The Giants player remains the only opposing quarterback to have defeated him twice in the championship game. Both his wins in the Super Bowl have been against Tom Brady and Eli Manning won the Super Bowl MVP in both games.

Not only did he win both games, it was the manner of the wins that reverberates even today. Their first meeting was in Super Bowl XLII. The Patriots were favored by 12 points, and with good reason. They had a 16-0 perfect regular season record and had won all their playoff games, naturally, to make it there. The Giants had a 10-6 record.

For most of the match, the game went as per script. Going into the fourth quarter, the Giants were trailing 7-3. However, they would would go on to score 14 points in the final quarter to snatch a 17-14 victory.

Super Bowl XLVI was a similar story. Again, the New England Patriots were favorites, having a 13-3 regular season record. The Giants were 9-7 in the regular season. Again, going into the fourth quarter, they were trailing 17-15. But six unanswered points in the second half meant a 21-17 victory for the Giants.

Every time, just when Tom Brady thought he had Eli Manning defeated, the latter came back up, especially in the final quarter of the game. Therefore, if the GOAT has a grudging respect for any quarterback, it is the former Giants great. It manifested itself on social media as well back in 2020.

Twitter has been here for quite some time and Tom Brady was already making hay as one of the most popular superstars on it. But Eli Manning was nowhere to be seen for many a year as the social space thrived. Finally, on 23rd May, 2020, the Giants quarterback decided to take the plunge.

The twice-vanquished Patriots quarterback noticed and posted a tongue-in-cheek welcome, saying,

"Welcome @EliManning, In typical fashion, you never showed up until the 4th quarter anyway..."

Tom Brady's biggest regret remains THAT defeat against Eli Manning

Tom Brady has won it all and he will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game, if not the best. However, if there is one regret he has in his career, it is losing to Eli Manning and the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

The New England Patriots, as mentioned previously, had a 16-0 record in the regular season. Winning the Super Bowl would have meant a perfect season and they would have become immortals, joining the Miami Dolphins of the 1972 season, when they went 14-0 in the regular season before going on to lift the Super Bowl. Instead, it was a missed opportunity that the former Patriots quarterback lamented, saying,

"It was a month before I really felt back to myself. It was a nightmare. You woke up the next morning... I said, 'It didn't happen. There's no way it happened.'"

However, the silver lining is that he has also said that had he won the game and gone a perfect 19-0, his motivation might have dropped and he might have retired sooner as well.

So in many ways, Eli Manning has defined how we have come to see Tom Brady and how he has come to see himself. His innocent needling on social media notwithstanding, those epic battles are sure to remain part of NFL folklore for years to come.