10 best individual player rivalries in NFL history

8. Tom Brady vs. Baltimore Ravens defense [Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs]

For someone who terrorized the NFL for 23 years, Tom Brady has his fair share of contentious rivalries, most of them being one-sided. There were plenty of players who lamented about Brady and the Patriots over the years, cursing New England for undeservedly advancing to another Super Bowl as they kept the rest of the AFC out of it.

But there were a few AFC teams who held their own against the Patriots, pitting Brady against Hall of Fame defenders in matchups that hinged on uncertainty. Two of their strongest rivals resided in the AFC North: the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Brady and the Ravens’ defense developed a unique rivalry because the way in which each Raven responded to Brady differed. Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have spoken at length about how and why Brady is exceptional, and inversely, Brady has lauded Lewis and Reed for being two of the greatest footballers he’s ever seen. Terrell Suggs, however, represents the other iteration of a sports rivalry: he’s not a fan of Brady. The fact that the Ravens’ defense hosted multiple elite players who each fostered powerful rivalries against Brady cements the Ravens-Patriots rivalry as being one of the most competitive throughout the 2000s.

There’s an 11-minute video compilation of Lewis and Reed discussing what it was like to play against Brady because, for these three players, it was arguably the greatest challenge of their respective careers. Last year, Brady named Reed as the defensive back he hated playing against the most. Another clip shows Brady and Reed hugging while Brady calls Reed his “kryptonite.” A Hall of Fame safety who graced the NFL 100 list alongside Brady and Lewis, Reed is a strong contender for being the greatest free safety of all time. A clip from NFL Network captures trash talk between Lewis and Brady during the 2011 AFC Championship: Lewis reminds his teammates that it’s a “chess match” against Brady, and the two talk back to one another on the field. After the Patriots won, Brady told Lewis, “You’re the best, you know that? I love you, man.”

Even though Lewis and Reed praise Brady’s talents today, it doesn’t mean the quarterback hasn’t had his skirmishes with these players. In 2015, Lewis said that the Tuck Rule is what made Brady famous, not his ability to play. Lewis later clarified that his disdain was directed at the rule rather than Brady, but his original quote paints an unflattering portrait of his longtime rival.

Another example of this was in 2013 as the Ravens defeated the Patriots on their way to a Super Bowl victory. Brady slid into Reed’s leg in a controversial manner, but the way the two approached the situation indicates how much the two players respect one another. Reed said that he and Brady spoke on the phone and Brady apologized, clarifying that he didn’t think Brady was a “dirty” player.

Suggs and Brady are the two who fostered a different dynamic, with teasing quotes back and forth shared via press. During a 2010 game, Suggs sent Brady to the turf and Brady gestured for a flag, after which the two started yelling back and forth. After the game, Suggs suggested Brady hope that he doesn’t “see them again,” to which Brady replied, “They talk a lot for only beating us once in nine years.”

For the most part, Suggs is the one who made comments about Brady, but it also falls in line with how he motivated himself on the field. “T-Sizzle” describes how Suggs simmered on the field and in interviews, and for the better part of a decade, Suggs took plenty of shots at Brady. Another video compilation chronicling the mostly “one-sided” feud between Brady and Suggs details how it began in 2009, continuing through several key matchups between the AFC giants. Suggs indicated that Brady and Peyton Manning get preferential treatment from referees, reinforcing the popular notion that Brady benefits from unfair calls and rule changes. Soon after, Suggs said that Brees was better than Brady and Manning, admitting that maybe it was a “personal vendetta” against the other two but Brees has the “numbers” and “hardware” to prove it. Suggs took the pettiness to hilarious heights when he nominated Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Ryan Fitzpatrick for the Pro Bowl when Brady won NFL MVP for the 2010 season.

The next year, Suggs claimed the Patriots’ first three Super Bowl victories were “questionable.” After the Ravens won the AFC Championship in 2011, while Lewis and Brady were congratulating each other, Suggs called the Patriots “arrogant”, telling them to “have fun at the Pro Bowl.” In a 2013 interview with ESPN, Suggs admitted he doesn’t like Brady because of his “hair” and his “smug attitude.” Suggs also confirms that it all started in 2009 when Brady received a flag for Suggs falling on his leg, which makes sense when considering all of Suggs’ comments about Brady. Along the way, he’s suggested that Brady is privileged and even “worshipped”, which results in unfair treatment for the quarterback and against defenders like Suggs. When Brady called Suggs “phenomenal” in 2013, Suggs seemed surprised and hardly insulted the quarterback afterward.

Eventually, the rivalry cooled on Suggs’ end as he dodged chances to insult Brady. When Suggs was given an opportunity to diminish Brady’s accomplishments after Deflategate, he instead gave credit to the quarterback for always finding a way to win. “That’s a good bait question, I like it,” Suggs laughed.

Tom Brady’s relationship with each of these Ravens players is steeped in respect, even if there were moments where the players lamented the league’s treatment of quarterbacks versus defenders. For the teams they represented and the quality of football these athletes offered, the rivalry between Brady and the Ravens is one that has few, if any, parallels.