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Tom Brady Tweets Selfie With Peyton Manning: 'We Were Friends This Whole Time'

By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) -- Since firing up his Twitter account on April 1, Tom Brady has brought much delight and happiness to Patriots fans who can never get themselves enough Tom Brady.

That joy ended on Wednesday, June 26, 2019, at 12:11 p.m. ET.

That was the moment that Tom Brady told the world that he's friends with Peyton Manning.

Folks who have spent the past two decades arguing to the bitter end about Brady's clear and obvious supremacy over Manning were no doubt left in shock by such a photo ... and a caption.

Kidding aside, Brady and Manning have always shared a great mutual respect -- at least in their public dealings. They did have that minor issue during the DeflateGate days, when a private email of Brady's from 2014 was made public. In that email, Brady responded to a friend who mentioned the rivalry with Manning, saying, "I've got another 7 or 8 years. He has 2. That's the final chapter. Game on."

Manning explained at the time that Brady quickly fired off a text apologizing for the comments, which Manning said was "unnecessary."

"No harm, no foul, I didn't think a lot of it," Manning said at the time. "Somebody said I was roasted, I've been roasted before and that is not roasted."

After that, the two exchanged some public jabs. Manning took a DeflateGate shot at Brady during a Comedy Central roast in 2016, and Brady responded in kind by throwing down a two-hand reverse jam in Manning's eyeball during an ESPYs skit in 2017 (at the 3:47 mark):

Manning enjoying new retirement home by Leo Sadeh on YouTube

The good-natured ribbing showed that the two clearly had a nice little friendship of sorts, to the point where they're now dressing up on Wednesday mornings to hang out together. How nice.

It's good to see two of the best quarterbacks in history -- and certainly, the two best quarterbacks of the 21st century -- getting along. Now get out there and start hugging some Colts and Broncos fans, people. It's what Tom would want you to do.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

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