TWITTER:S_KRAUSE
It's funny how in sports things just seem to work out. This season Super Bowl XLVI is going to be played in Indianapolis, where Peyton Manning has been playing for the last 13 seasons. His arch rival(at least from a media prospective) Tom Brady will be playing in the game, and will be opposing Peyton's little brother Eli Manning. All the while Peyton hasn't taken a snap all season due to a neck injury, and what appears is going to be a messy divorce from the Colts.
When Eli was drafted and demanded a trade to New York, everyone including me thought what a joke. He will never be as good as his brother, and demanding where he plays is a bush league move. I guess now after winning one Super Bowl and being the MVP, the joke is now on all of us. Eli was never supposed to be as successful as Peyton. Yes he doesn't have the NFL MVP awards, and doesn't always have the stat line as Peyton does, and he sometimes appears to just throw the ball up for grabs. What he does have though is the same number of Super Bowl appearances now (2) and if he wins Sunday will have more Super Bowl wins than Peyton.
In the preseason Eli said, "Yes I believe I'm an elite quarterback", saying he's in the same category as Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees. We all laughed and said sure you do little buddy. After a 6-2 start to the season Eli started to shut some of the doubters up. Then the Giants lose 4 straight including losses in which they lose to a backup QB, Vince Young ,and get blown out by New Orleans by 25. The calender turns to December and that is where Eli shined. On a Sunday night in Dallas, Eli leads the giants to 2 scores in the final 3:17 of the game in route to the win, and keep their playoff hopes alive. Then on Christmas Eve with their playoff hopes dwindling, Eli throws a 99 yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz to start the comeback win against the Jets. On the final week of the season in a winner take all game for the NFC East title Eli was nearly flawless as he goes 24-33 for 346 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 31-17 win against Dallas. The postseason has been no different for Eli he has been continuing to play great and has his team one win away from another championship.
Eli is only one of 3 active qbs in the league with multiple super bowl starts Tom Brady(5) Ben Roethlisberger(3) and Peyton Manning(2). He would be 1 of 7 qbs to win his first 2 super bowl starts. That list includes Bradshaw, Montana, Aikman, Starr,Plunket,Brady and Roethlisberger 5 of those quarterbacks are Hall of Famers. One(Brady) is for sure going to be a Hall of Famer.
If Manning wins the Super Bowl next week, I guess not only will he say that he belongs in the elite class, but I guess we would have to say that he belongs right at the top of that class. He may not have all the flashy stats, or sometimes the brightest personality but all he does is win. If how we judge players especially quarterbacks is on wins and losses, and super bowl wins, you have to say Eli right now belongs in the top 5 if not the best in football.
No comments:
Post a Comment