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Tom Brady

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning prove NFL's true priority

Tom Pelissero
USA TODAY Sports
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning remain the standard-bearers at quarterback in the NFL.

This article has been revised to correct the location of Sunday's Broncos-Patriots game. The game will be in Foxboro, Mass.

It started with Cam Newton and continued with Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick – the influx of young, dual-threat quarterbacks that was going to alter the landscape of the NFL's most important position.

Yet when Peyton Manning and Tom Brady meet Sunday in Foxboro, Mass., it will be not so much as vestiges of an endangered species, but Exhibits A and B that the veteran pocket passer is alive and well in 2014, perhaps at more of an advantage than ever.

"I just think that they always have been," Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians told USA TODAY Sports recently. "People got wowed a little bit by Cam. Russell wins a championship with a great defense, and he's really tough to defend.

"I just don't think those guys are the answer myself. I'll take Manning, Brady, Ben (Roethlisberger), Carson (Palmer), Drew (Brees), Philip (Rivers) – all the guys out there first. And if they have mobility like Andrew Luck, that's a blessing."

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Manning, 38, is the reigning MVP and tied for the NFL lead with 22 touchdown passes for the Denver Broncos. Brady, 37, is on a tear with 14 TD throws and no interceptions during the New England Patriots' four-game win streak.

They've combined for seven of the past 11 MVP awards and are surefire Hall of Famers, making them exceptions to any rule. But their ability to keep producing at a time so many top QBs have walked away may indicate the lifespan for their style of play is only extending.

"I don't know what stops them, because they are protected better now in terms of the rules, they're protected in terms of their schemes," Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner said. "As long as they keep wanting to play, I think guys will play a lot longer."

The other five quarterbacks with 100-plus passer ratings entering Thursday night – Rodgers, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Kyle Orton and Tony Romo – are also age 30 or over, do much of their damage inside the pocket and, most important, are on teams that are winning.

The likes of Rodgers and Romo don't fit in the strict pocket passing mold, given their ability to extend plays with their feet. Roethlisberger, who threw for a near-record 522 yards and six TDs last week in the Pittsburgh Steelers' win over the Indianapolis Colts, can also extend plays because he's so big and strong he's tough to bring down.

As Manning and Brady keep showing, though, the ability to identify and manipulate defenses before the snap, get into the right calls and unload the ball quickly can be just as effective as taking off running, provided you have a baseline ability and feel to slide around in the pocket.

"That's kind of a form of scrambling," said quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, who has mentored Roethlisberger and many others. "That's what (Manning) and Tom Brady have done for many, many years. Aaron Rodgers you'd have to put into that category as well.

"There's sort of this misnomer about guys in the pocket – 'Is he done for?' The dumb quarterback will always never make it. If you're smart and you're accurate and you have good footwork, you can survive for many, many, years and you won't get hit nearly as many times."

That's not to say none of the dual-threat QBs are intelligent or capable of making plays in the pocket. Newton improved last season when the Carolina Panthers stopped leaning on him so heavily to run off zone-read plays. Wilson possesses some pro-style traits, albeit with a small stature that changes how the Seattle Seahawks ask him to execute certain plays.

But there's no substitute for thousands and thousands of game reps. The complexity of the position makes it rare for a QB to progress as quickly as Luck, 25, who is on pace to threaten Manning's single-season passing record in his third year and has matched him with 22 TDs. Even Wilson, who won a Super Bowl in his second season, remains prone to inconsistency.

Arians, who spent time as offensive coordinator for Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh and Luck in Indianapolis, now has Palmer playing some of his best football in Arizona at age 34 even though he's not fully recovered from a nerve problem in his throwing shoulder.

"They're going to see something new in the first quarter, first 30 minutes of the game that they can adjust to," Arians said. "If they know their system, they have answers for all the things they're going to see. There's never a panic about them."

Toss in NFL officials' emphasis on illegal contact and defensive pass interference calls, as well as strict rules about hitting the quarterback, and it's no wonder the QBs best equipped to target mismatches downfield are having success – though they still need help.

"If you're not protected, it doesn't matter," said Turner, who coached Rivers in San Diego. "Brady had the game in Kansas City (on Sept. 29) where they had guys out and they couldn't protect him. Peyton had the game in the Super Bowl (in February) where they struggled to protect him and get open. Obviously, these guys are talented, talented guys. But they need good people around them."

Lifelong effects of the hits on even the best QBs is the primary factor working against them to play into their 40s, according to Clarkson, although Manning said this week Brady "could probably do it. He keeps himself in great shape, and he has great durability. It's credit to him."

Born a little over 16 months later, Brady joked that Manning is "older than me and has more playing experience than me. Maybe when I'm his age, I'll be playing as well as that."

Assuming Manning returns for an 18th NFL season at age 39, he will have outlasted all but five of the 23 modern-era quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame. And he will have done it despite a series of neck surgeries that wiped out his 2011 season and permanently diminished his arm strength.

Those dual-threat QBs can stress a defense in all sorts of ways Manning can't. The book on Kaepernick, for instance, is to make him go through his reads in the pocket, because he's so dangerous once things break down.

But QBs who rely on their legs may not have that gift for long. Just ask Griffin, who has been a shell of himself since knee reconstruction surgery after his rookie season in 2012.

"These guys take an awful beating – even the guys that we're mentioning, the Bradys and the Mannings," Clarkson said. "Probably a third of the time, they don't even see the pass getting completed because they're on their backs, and those hits hurt just like sacks.

"At some point, it does (favor) the guys that are in that mode – that basically beat people with their brains. They have the best chance to have the long-lasting careers, because they're so smart about getting rid of the ball quickly and accurately."

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

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