Matt Ryan and Drew Brees will have a historic 20th meeting on Sunday

When Matt Ryan and Drew Brees play Sunday, it won’t just be the latest installment in a long-running rivalry. It’ll also be the continuation of a historic series of matchups between two durable, great players.

Per Mike Triplett at ESPN, this will be the 20th time Ryan and Brees have met on the same field. That’s the most ever between two QBs in the Super Bowl era, as he notes, beating out Dan Marino-Jim Kelly and John Elway-Dave Krieg. If you wanted to argue that this is the greatest QB rivalry in NFL history, I’d be hard-pressed to argue against you. It helps that both of these players may someday reach Canton.

Brees owns the all-time advantage in that clash—this will not surprise you, as the Saints were fairly dominant at times in the Smitty years—but it’s close enough that Ryan could erase the lead in 2018 and 2019. Both players have had success against their opponent, too:

Brees: 688-913, 7,657 yards, 46 touchdowns, 26 interceptions

Ryan: 452-715, 5,603 yards, 32 touchdowns, 12 interceptions

Chances are we’re nearing the end of this rivalry, as Brees probably has 2-3 years left in him, and Ryan’s probably anywhere from 4-7 years away from the end of his career. That means that as much as we despise Brees and the Saints more generally, we should take some time to appreciate just how great this rivalry has been, in large part because of the play of the two men who have been under center for nearly every game this past decade.