"I want the letter back" - Peyton Manning calls for Tom Brady to send back his retirement gifts

Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL very abruptly a few months ago, but he received a ton of support from his peers and fans. One of his greatest rivals from the game even sent a heartfelt letter and a nice bottle of wine to welcome him into retirement. Now Peyton Manning wants those heart-warming words back.

After coming out of retirement earlier this month, Brady stunned the football world twice in the calendar year. Manning got wind of the news and has jokingly asked that Tom Brady kindly return his retirement gifts. While attending a MINT Collective event this weekend, Manning had some fun with his old friend and rival.

"I want the letter back. You got to read all these nice things, I want it back. I want the bottle of wine back, too."

Manning and Brady had a heated rivalry in the NFL for well over a decade and it continued outside of the football field too after Manning retired. The two have competed in numerous golf events together, including the the second "The Match" charity event with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Now that Brady is back in the NFL for at least another season, we can expect Peyton Manning to continue ribbing the quarterback. If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a part of one of the Monday Night Football games on ManningCast, you can bet Peyton will not have mercy on Brady.

Peyton Mannings' career stats compared to Tom Brady

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were arguably the two best quarterbacks through the 2000s. From 2000 to 2015, both quarterbacks combined for nine Super Bowl wins, 10 NFL MVPs, 29 Pro Bowls and 10 First-Team All-Pro honors. Brady has the best record against Manning at 11-6. The two met five times in the post-season and Manning owns the record in the playoffs 3-2.

Brady is entering his 23rd season as opposed to Manning's 18. So it's not a surprise that Tom Brady owns nearly every passing record in the league.

He has the most passing yards (84,520) compared to Manning's 3rd-best 71,940. Brady has 624 passing touchdowns (1st) while Manning retired with 539 (3rd). Peyton has more interceptions (251) in fewer seasons than Brady (203).

The two categories where Peyton has the edge over Tom is 4th quarter comebacks with 43. TB12 has 42 and could easily take the record in the 2022 season. The other is having the most passing yards in a single season (5,477), while Brady has only ever reached 5,316.