Dak grew up rooting for Peyton, not Brady

Dak Prescott and Tom Brady will meet Thursday night when the Dallas Cowboys visit the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2021 NFL season opener.

Prescott grew up watching his opposite number, but he wasn't a Brady fan.

"I actually wasn't," Prescott said in an interview with NBC's Maria Taylor, according to Jon Machota of The Athletic. "I was a Peyton Manning fan, and because of that, you dislike Tom Brady.

"But it wasn't until I got into college and realized what Tom was doing, the discipline, the focus, everything that it takes for him to be the champion that he is, then I became a huge fan of him."

Brady and his New England Patriots were a thorn in the side of Manning's Indianapolis Colts for years. Brady went 11-6 in head-to-head meetings with Manning, and the Patriots eliminated the Colts from the playoffs twice.

But, as much as the football world has seen Brady in a new light in recent years, Prescott has, too.

"Then obviously over the past few years of him switching teams and his personality coming out and seeing how much of a great teammate he is, it allows me to idolize somebody and to idolize one of the best to ever do it," Prescott said. "So it's great to start the season off and have a chance to go beat him and his team."