INDIANAPOLIS – Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have swapped victories, awards and championships. Now they might be trading records, too.

The feature attraction in this week’s showdown pits Brady, on pace to shatter the league’s single-season records for touchdown passes and passer rating, versus Manning, the man he’s chasing.

It’s the personal duel of the season.

“As a quarterback, you’re always trying to get into that rhythm, that zone, whatever you want to call it,” Manning said. “You are throwing passes before they’re coming out of their breaks, you anticipate where they’re going to be. Every play that is called, you kind of feel it’s going to work, it’s going to be a touchdown.”

Few rivalries have so much intensity and even fewer conjure up such strongly debated headliners.

Manning and Brady both have Super Bowl wins, Super Bowl MVP awards and have become playoff fixtures. They’ve been to the Pro Bowl together and grown accustomed to these personal battles that always seem to come twice a year. They pride themselves on preparation and execution.

While past arguments tended to focus on the glaring omissions from their resumes – Manning had the impressive numbers and awards but no championships, while Brady had the titles but numbers that paled in comparison – the league’s top two quarterbacks now seem content in reversed roles.

Manning’s more-balanced offense leads the league in touchdowns rushing (12) this season, while Brady has relied more on his new receiving corps to catch short passes and break off long runs.

Brady, the three-time Super Bowl winner, is throwing touchdowns with as much regularity as a pitcher throwing fastballs. Through eight games, he has 30 TD passes, 19 short of Manning’s record, and a 136.2 passer rating, well ahead of Manning’s best of 121.1.

Manning won his first Super Bowl title in February, two weeks after masterfully leading Indianapolis back from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat Brady’s Patriots.

Yet it’s these games some believe will define their careers.

Brady enters Sunday holding a 6-3 edge over Manning, although Manning has won the last three, and this year’s battle includes the right to remain undefeated. Manning’s Colts are 7-0, Brady’s Patriots 8-0, with the winner taking the inside track for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

A victory against his old nemesis would also give Manning his 100th career victory.

But as heated as this rivalry has become, Manning and Brady won’t trade barbs.

“What’s not to be impressed by?” Brady said. “He (Manning) does everything well. He throws the short stuff, he throws the deep stuff, he’s a leader. I mean, once again, he’s a clutch performer. He’s always in command of the team and the offense. Um … he’s a great actor. He can do it all.”

Usually, seeing the league’s two best quarterbacks on the same field is a rarity.

In the case of Manning and Brady, this marks the eighth time they’ve faced each other since 2003. Strangely, the two quarterbacks who seem so perfect against every other have been defined more by mistakes in this series.

In the 2003 AFC title game, Manning’s four interceptions were the difference in a 24-14 New England victory. The next year, in a divisional round game, Manning finished with his second-lowest passer rating of the season, 69.3, in a 20-3 loss.

Last year, Brady’s four interceptions did in the Patriots in a 27-20 defeat at Foxborough, Mass., a loss that eventually gave Indianapolis home-field advantage in the playoffs and set up one of the most memorable moments of Manning’s career: the greatest comeback in conference championship game history.

Brady’s only interception of the game sealed Indy’s victory.

But forcing miscues is the most difficult challenge these defenses have.