Tom Brady welcomed newly retired Eli Manning to Twitter by showing him what social media was really all about. The newly-minted Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback retweeted Manning’s first post and said the former New York Giants’ signal-caller never showed up until late in the game when he played.
“Welcome @EliManning, In typical fashion, you never showed up until the 4th quarter anyway”
While Brady was poking fun at his long time rival, Manning announced he had joined the social media platform by having a little fun of his own. The two-time Super Bowl winner, who retired this offseason, tweeted that he thought it was finally time to join social media and that he was paraphrasing a line from the movie Hoosiers .
To paraphrase Jimmy Chitwood, “I don’t know if it’ll make any change, but I figure it’s time for me to start playing social media.” pic.twitter.com/Af8IFMOiEQ
— Eli Manning (@EliManning) May 23, 2020
As of the time of this article, the tweet is still the only one Manning has sent out. Having joined just this month, the former Giants’ star already has more than 30,000 followers. Like Manning, Brady waited quite a while before he joined social media. He finally made an account on Twitter in March of last year. He quickly picked up more than 1 million followers. Since joining the platform, the former New England Patriots star has used it to make various announcements about his endeavors off the football field.
Brady’s welcoming of Manning was noteworthy because of the pair’s rivalry when they were playing in New York and New England. The two quarterbacks squared off against each other a total of 17 times, with Brady winning 11 of those games. While he leads the all-time series, Manning stepped up when the game mattered the most.
The two squared off in Super Bowl XLII in what was a historic season for Brady and the Patriots. They managed to get through the regular season undefeated and mowed through the AFC playoffs as well. In the Super Bowl, Manning and his 10-6 Giants were able to knock off Brady’s crew, robbing them of being the first team since the 1971 Miami Dolphins of finishing a season undefeated.
In that game, Manning won the Super Bowl MVP award after throwing for 255 yards and two touchdowns. The contest was a defensive slugfest with most of the scoring coming in the fourth quarter.
With 2:45 to go in the game, Brady threw the go-ahead touchdown pass to Randy Moss but with just 39 seconds left, Manning found Plaxico Burress for a 13-yard touchdown for the eventual winning score. The throw capped a 13-play, 82-yard drive for the comeback. It’s likely Brady was referring to that game with his quip about not showing up until the fourth quarter.
Not long after Brady welcomed Manning to the social media platform, Manning fired back by taking a swing at the Bucs’ quarterback’s golf skills.
Hope your golf game is as polished as your Twitter game. Don’t hit it in the lumberyard. https://t.co/SaPL34P2T2
— Eli Manning (@EliManning) May 23, 2020