Luck watched from afar as Brady and former Colts legend Peyton Manning duked it out in a decade's worth of playoff games and high-stakes AFC battles. (Photo: Mark Susina, Flickr)
"As a young quarterback growing up, I took the opportunity to watch the sort of benchmarks [Brady and Manning] of quarterback play," Luck told Patriots reporters Wednesday via conference call, according to Patriots.com. "There were some great playoff games at both stadiums."
Brady held the head-to-head edge, 8-4, in nine regular season games and three playoff games. But Luck has an opportunity to 1-up Brady this week as he continues to start his own, for lack of a milder term, legacy.
"I try and put a fair amount of pressure on myself to go out and succeed, but I realized if I got caught up in trying to fill Peyton’s shoes and compare myself to him every day I’d probably go crazy," Luck said. "I feel it’s unattainable, so I try not to be like that."
"... If somedy I can play at a level that Peyton and Tom play at, then that’d be a quarterback’s dream come true."
Luck is obviously off to a good start, helping the Colts, who have won five of their last six games, to a 6-3 record. If the season ended today, the Colts would hold the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs, and the Patriots would be at No. 3, so this game has big implications.
