Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning may be better off for losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes at the "Shoe" this past Saturday.
New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady certainly thinks so.
Brady went on a diatribe about how Manning could end up using the loss. Manning went 17/30 passing with a touchdown and an interception in the Longhorns' 14-7 loss to the Buckeyes in Week 1.
"The blessing is there needs to be resilience built up in a quarterback as well," Brady told Cris Collinsworth during a Pro Football Focus interview, per Sports Illustrated. "Even though he didn't have his best game and they lost, if he uses this to his advantage, he's gonna be tougher for it. And he's gonna have a better next game because of it. I always felt like you've gotta deal with a lot of adversity from a quarterback standpoint to toughen you up to be the true leader for the organization.
"There's a long season to play out. Arch has years beyond this to still play in college if he wants, but it's gonna be up to him to see how deep he wants to dig within himself in order to be successful. There's nothing to show that he won't be that. He's been that way in high school, even last year. He's got a lot of good people around him that know exactly what to do."
In all likelihood, Manning will be significantly improved because he won't be facing the best player in the country and a defense that looks like it could meet or surpass the nation's No. 1 unit from a season ago.
CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello noted that Manning had Downs in his head all afternoon.
"The Buckeyes' defense was phenomenal despite losing eight starters from last season - that secondary, returning two starters, is elite - and held Texas in check with four fourth-down stops. Arch Manning was flustered and had eyes on safety Caleb Downs all afternoon," Marcello wrote.
It gets easier from here for Manning. Brady sees that, and is expecting the best after the Longhorns got the 21-year-old's worst against the Buckeyes.