They are two of the greatest quarterbacks of their generation and it is only a question of when they will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Tom Brady, of the New England Patriots, has led his team to three Super Bowl victories, winning the MVP trophy in two of them. He is the heir to football’s greatest clutch performer and his childhood hero, Joe Montana.

Peyton Manning, of the Indianapolis Colts, has won two league MVP awards and holds the NFL record for touchdowns in a single season. He is on pace to rewrite the record book. Nevertheless, one can’t help but look at his post-season results and think that he may end up supplanting Dan Marino as the “best quarterback never to win a Super Bowl”. Despite Manning's prolific numbers, he usually takes a back seat to Brady at playoff time; and playoff time is when great players become legends.

Strangely, these two very different quarterbacks have taken similar paths in arriving at this point of the 2006-07 season. Both put up -- even by their standards -- great regular season numbers. Both led teams that were, at various points in the season, written off as pretenders and not contenders but their teams have won one home and one road playoff game each in which neither superstar quarterback really played to their ability.

This postseason, Manning, a prolific passer, has posted numbers which can only be described as pedestrian. In the wins over the Kansas City and Baltimore, he threw more touchdowns than interceptions, and he didn't top the 300-yard mark in either game.

Meanwhile, the normally unflappable and ever-consistent Brady followed a strong performance against the New York Jets with a game against San Diego that he would probably just as soon forget. If not for a heads-up play by Troy Brown, Captain Comeback’s third interception of the game would likely have heralded the end of the Patriots’ season.

We all know how important this game is for Manning: He is playing in another AFC championship game at home against the team that has knocked him out of the playoffs on a number of occasions, and he will face the quarterback whose three Super Bowl rings simply add fuel to the “Manning can’t win the big one” fire.

Still, the stakes are also very high for Brady. His reputation as an all-time great quarterback hinges on a winning performance. It’s never been about numbers with Brady - rather, it’s been about his ability to rise to the occasion. This is why so many fans and pundits rank him ahead of Manning despite the latter's statistical superiority.

Since capturing his third Super Bowl, Joe Cool Version 2.0 has not always done so. A Colts win, particularly if they follow it up with a victory in Super Bowl XLI, would be seen by some as an indication that Manning had moved to the head of the class.

So, for these two great young quarterbacks, this game is about far more than which team will represent the AFC in this Super Bowl. This game is about legacies: Can Manning lay to rest the contention that he can’t win the big game on the big stage? Can Brady silence any whispers that his anointment as his generation’s Joe Montana was premature?

This is a game you won’t want to miss.