In his career, Bill Belichick is 12-10 against Peyton Manning. (Getty Images)

Bill Belichick has been coaching in the NFL since 1976, when he was a special teams assistant with the Detroit Lions. In that time he's faced countless quarterbacks, some of whom ended up in the Hall of Fame.

But this Sunday's opponent, Peyton Manning, tops the list as far as the Patriots coach is concerned.

"I mean, he's great, he's obviously a great quarterback," Belichick said Wednesday. "The best quarterback I've coached against. ... "Not to take anything away from the Montanas, Marinos and Elways or whoever is up there with those guys, but (Manning) is tough."

Belichick's comments come a day after he talked up Manning who, like Tom Brady, will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

"He's very smart," the Patriots coach said Tuesday. "He has a great understanding of concepts and timing, game management, clock management, situational football -- third down, red area -- great utilization of the field from sideline-to-sideline and attacking the deep part of the field, very accurate, great decision-maker, quick release. ... I don't think there are any weaknesses in his game."

Belichick has faced Manning 22 times as either a coach or coordinator and he's come out on top on 12 occasions. With Brady under center, Belichick's record improves to 10-5. And here's one more reason the Pats might have an advantage this week: As CBSSports.com's John Breech pointed out, Manning is 8-11 when the temperature falls below 40 degrees at kickoff. And he's 3-8 against the Patriots during the regular season.

Sunday's forecast for Foxboro calls for a 30 percent chance of snow.