peyton manning pep talks

They are manly, for what is a quarterback but football's macho lead actor?

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Schedule/Results Statistics | Roster Depth Chart | History And as their undefeated teams face each other in Indianapolis, the Colts' Peyton Manning and the Patriots' Tom Brady are showing the type of men they are on Madison Avenue.

Manning plays the Everyman (an Everyman with 39,419 career passing yards) in commercials for MasterCard, DirecTV, Gatorade and Sony: a 6-foot-5, 230-pound guy in his No. 18 jersey, a hoodie or a T-shirt and shorts, saying funny and self-deprecating things.

In one memorable MasterCard spot, he cheered on everyday people and exhorted a delicatessen worker slicing cold cuts to "Cut that meat!" For Sprint, he has worn a fake mustache and bad rug and talked about himself as if he were not there.

Brady's subtler commercial image ― right now, he's in print ads ― evokes a clean-cut (if unshaven) sexiness, but one that is far less overt than Joe Namath's.

Brady is the new Stetson Man, pushing cologne, not 10-gallon hats. In calling him its paragon of Western manliness, Stetson says he is "confident, rugged, masculine." Not only that, "he's a strong, masculine risk-taker with undeniable sex appeal."

Dang! He's surely entitled to such testosterone-fired praise, having led the Patriots to three Super Bowl victories. He is in the midst of an astonishing season with 30 touchdown passes and a 136.2 passer rating, considerably better than Manning's 102.9.

And there he is staring at us from the print ad for the Movado Series 800 sports watches. He isn't smoldering with fire; he isn't even wearing a watch. He. Just. Stares. But you sense that he'd be extremely pleased if you bought one of his limited line of rugged sports watches ($2,500 for the stainless steel model and $20,000 for the rose gold version).

"It's that look of intensity and focus on achieving his goals," said Efraim Grinberg, the president and chief executive of Movado. (Derek Jeter also endorses Movado.) Mary Leach, Movado's chief marketing officer added, "We're trying to capture the image of an individual who conveys excellence and achievement."

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The Manning iconography would probably not feature a photo session at a California ranch where Brady was shot for Stetson with a model cuddling him or draped over him (wearing a tight T-shirt) in a sports car, or kicking the dirt like Adam Vinatieri.

But Brady dates a supermodel (Giselle Bündchen) and Manning has a wife (Ashley).

Would Namath have agreed to "take it all off" for Noxzema if he'd been married?

Brady's agent, Donald Yee, said: "Tom's a guy who's really gratified to be able to enjoy his life and who does a good job of living in the present. So what he chooses to do or not do tends to evolve with his life in a natural way."

Rich Eisen, the lead anchor of the NFL Network, said that Manning and Brady demonstrated their styles and personalities in their advertising. "Manning is more populist, and Brady comes across as more of a GQ, Canali-suit-wearing guy," he said. "Peyton's the one waving green flags at the Indy 500. He is probably more comfortable being a funny guy, and Tom is more comfortable as the 'aw shucks' quiet one behind the scenes."

Brady last month signed with Glacéau, the maker of Smartwater, which he used as part of his training regimen before signing the deal. There are no ads yet (he will do a television commercial that shows scenes from his life), just an official color photograph showing him casually dressed, serenely clutching a bottle of the electrolyte-enriched water.

"Tom chose us, and he's very conscious about who he partners with," said Rohan Oza, the company's senior vice president for marketing. "The brand is part of his life."

Brady's subdued commercial route (he sat quietly in a 2005 Visa commercial as his offensive line squabbled over the type of credit card protection they would provide) is fundamentally different from Manning's. Manning is close to being the N.F.L.'s class clown, whether he is goofing around with his brother Eli and father, Archie, for DirecTV Sunday Ticket, plopping down with a family to watch a Sony HD TV or dispensing oddball pep talks about diets, aging, golf, haircuts and dating for MasterCard.

"Through his humor, being a family guy and his style of play, he is approachable and gives our brand a personality we couldn't do on our own," said Jeff Urban, a senior vice president of Gatorade, which has done about 15 commercials with Manning.

In the Sony ad, Manning (wearing his practice T-shirt and shorts) moves from the field to the television production truck and to a family's house to demonstrate that Sony's high definition TV's are used by broadcasters and fans. As he enters the house, he looks as big as Gulliver and says, "Scoot over a bit" as he wedges himself onto a sofa.

"For Sony, he represents the pinnacle of football," said Stuart Redsun, Sony's senior corporate vice president for marketing. "He is authentic to the game."

DirecTV has used him in its "fourth wall" campaign, in which he appears to interrupt a game in progress to pitch Sunday Ticket, and an ad in which he and Eli come home to witness Archie tutoring Matt Leinart, the left-handed quarterback he has coveted.

"Matt, he's like family now," says Archie, who watches his sons on DirecTV.

"DirecTV stands for the best TV experience available, and Peyton personifies the best," said Jon Gieselman, a DirecTV spokesman. "He personifies our brand."

Manning's mainstream accessibility may soon be matched by Brady's appeal, but Brady is for now the low-key guy's guy (with a Movado on his wrist). Stetson's Web site says such a man "is rugged, down to earth, competitive, fair-minded and honestly handsome." He also "expresses the great American outdoors, freedom, confidence and masculinity."

A tall order even for a guy with 30 touchdown passes.