John Elway and Dan Marino faced each other only three times; Marino won both regular-season duels, but Elway got revenge in the 1998 playoffs. Terry Bradshaw and Ken Stabler met eight times, four of them in the postseason; Stabler’s Raiders took three games from Bradshaw’s Steelers in the regular season, but the Steelers won more often when it mattered most. Those were great quarterback rivalries, but not as great as this one.

To find a rivalry as durable as Peyton Manning versus Tom Brady, you have to go back to Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas, who met 12 times in the 1960s. The Unitas Colts and Starr Packers battled to a 6-6 tie, but even though the N.F.L. title often hung in the balance when they played, they never met in the postseason. Manning and Brady have squared off 11 times, eight times in the regular season and three times in the playoffs. Brady’s Patriots lead the series, 7-4, but Manning’s Colts have won four of the past five.

This is the rare rivalry that gets better with time. It has evolved over the years. At first, it was easy to trivialize as a showdown of winner versus stat compiler. From 2007 to 2009, it morphed into a clash of offensive ideologies: Manning’s buttoned-down precision against Brady’s wide-open fireworks. Now that Manning’s best receivers are retired or injured and the Patriots’ offense has rediscovered balance, the rivalry finds two future Hall of Famers shepherding younger teammates through another victory march as their eras start to wane. The games always live up to their billing. Last year’s 35-34 Colts win (made famous by Bill Belichick’s short-pass gamble on fourth-and-2) was the latest in a series of games with spectacular finishes and improbable results.

We wax poetic about Unitas and Starr. Let us not wait 35 years to appreciate Brady and Manning. Enjoy this rivalry while it is still here. Pick: Patriots.