This past Sunday, Eli Manning won his second super bowl. When I say second, I do mean more than one but less than three. This has sparked several debates about which quarterback is better, Eli or his brother Peyton. Is this debate necessary? Here is what I think.
Here is the simple solution. Even if Peyton does not play another game, he will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the position. Peyton has thrown for 4,000 yards in every season with the exception of 2. Eli only has 3 total 4,000 yard seasons. Is that enough?
Do we have to bring actual wins in the equation? MVPs? Or any stat that proves if a QB is actually good or not? The bottom line is that Peyton has been possibly the league’s best for quite some time now. That has never been said about his younger brother, who has always been closer to the middle of the pack than he has the top.
To Eli’s credit, he has always played better in the Playoffs than his older brother. The only thing about that is you are not guaranteed to get to the postseason with Eli under the helm. If not for the Cowboys practically putting the Giants in this year it would not even be the least bit a debate. Even in the games where the Giants controlled their own postseason destiny Eli had an “Eli” type game. He threw the ball to a Washington Redskins’ player 4 times in a blowout loss. Lets not act like he was flawless in that win against his fellow New Jersey mates. His stats read 9 for 27 for 127 yards. Oh yeah, 99 of those yards came from a Victor Cruz catch and run.
What Eli did do? He talked his smack and he brought great play behind it. One season does not make him Peyton, and I’m sorry to say that two rings don’t either. What he has done is assert himself as one of the league’s top quarterbacks. But there are still at least 5 I’d take in front of him. Mr. Rodgers in the neighborhood, Cool Brees, Big Ben, the guy he’s beat in the big game twice, and his big brother would all get my selection before Mr. Elijah Manning. That is no knock on Eli, in fact its progress. He can certainly add the elusive “t e” to the end of his first name. As far as the debate with his brother, not so fast!
