As recent as 2007, some Giants' fans argued that the trade the Giants made for Eli Manning was foolish. After all, the Chargers got Phillip Rivers and three draft picks, one of which ended up being Shawne Merriman, while New York got a quarterback who looked shaky and error-prone.
Now, just one year later, and Manning has a Super Bowl ring while the Chargers do not. San Diego’s argument that they play in the tougher conference is negated by the fact that the Giants beat the team that the Chargers could not.
Yet concerns remain about Eli. Has he truly turned the corner? Many NFL fans say that his postseason was a fluke, but the stats don’t lie. Eli has quietly turned into a great quarterback, and he became a Super Bowl Champion and MVP in the process.
Here are the six most common myths about Eli. His 2008 season will dispel these myths, and show that he is indeed a legitimately talented NFL quarterback.
Myth: Eli benefited from a great receiving corps.
Fact: That great receiving corps led the NFL in drops last year, with 42. Plaxico Burress, largely believed to be the Giants’ best receiver, was held to two catches for 27 yards in the Super Bowl against the Patriots, and he only had one catch for five yards against the Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.
His No. 2 receiver, Amani Toomer, turns 34 this year, while his No. 3 receiver, rookie Steve Smith, was injured for a significant portion of the regular season. Eli also played the entire postseason with a rookie tight end in Kevin Boss after Jeremy Shockey went down.
Despite these deficiencies at wide receiver, Manning found ways of attacking the defense and spreading the ball around without forcing throws. His single postseason interception was largely the fault of receiver Steve Smith, and with the exception of the Green Bay game, in which Burress caught 11 passes, no receiver went for more than seven receptions a game in the postseason.
Myth: The Giants’ postseason victories were all defense.
Fact: There’s no doubt that the Giants’ defense played great throughout the postseason, but every time the Giants’ desperately needed a scoring drive, Eli responded.
He drove down the field not once, but twice against Green Bay in the waning minutes to set up two missed field goals. Of course, there’s also the now legendary last drive of the Super Bowl in which Eli completed five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown.
He also played smart football, turning the ball over only once in the playoffs. He will certainly have to do a better job in the regular season, but Eli made plays and protected the ball when it mattered most.
Myth: Eli benefits from playing on a great team.
Fact: I’ve only actually heard this argument once or twice, but the fact that it’s even out there is puzzling. The Giants had exactly one Pro Bowler in defensive end Osi Umenyiora, and even he was just a reserve.
The secondary was much-maligned and decimated by injuries heading into the playoffs, and at one point, it seemed that the Giants had traded their best available running back in Ryan Grant. With the exceptions of Plaxico Burress and Eli himself, the Giants have no superstars on offense. Michael Strahan is arguably the only superstar on defense.
Myth: Eli is not a great leader.
Fact: Again, I point to Eli’s game-winning drives in the clutch as evidence to the contrary. The Giants also won 11-straight road games, and the team has consistently responded to Eli in the most important situations. By the end of the regular season, Manning had started to show a consistency that he had lacked in previous seasons.
Remember also that Eli managed to win a Super Bowl in only his fourth year in the NFL, beating his older brother by five seasons. In Peyton’s fourth year, the Colts were 6-10, and coach Jim Mora was telling the press not to talk about the playoffs. Eli led his team to victory in the clutch. The truest sign of a good leader.
Myth: Eli throws a wobbly spiral.
Fact: Okay, this one is actually sort of true. Do you know who else throws a wobbly spiral? His brother Peyton, Johnny Unitas, and Joe Montana. So a tight spiral is not everything, otherwise we’d all be singing the praises of Anthony Morelli.
Myth: Eli is the most mediocre Super-Bowl winning QB ever.
Fact: One name, three syllables: Trent Dilfer.
comments (9) write a comment »
write a new comment
3 months ago
I agree that Eli gets way too much criticism, however you make some key errors in your facts here.
SD got Rivers and Merriman from the trade, not LT.
Umenyiora is a starter lol, and he was way better last year than Strahan. If anyone is a superstar on D, it's Osi.
3 months ago
You are correct on the Shawne Merriman thing. That was a massive brain fart. And what I meant by "not a starter" is that Osi was not a Pro Bowl starter, but rather a reserve.
3 months ago
OK, I'll take a crack at this.
It's fun to re-write history, and as a Giants fan you have every right to be extremely psyched about outplaying the Patriots and winning the Super Bowl.
That said, Eli Manning nearly blew the Super Bowl. He had three interceptions dropped in that last drive. Two inexcusable drops by the Patriots, one by Samuel and the other by Meriweather. His defining play was a hail mary that was caught by a WR who made the greatest individual effort in Super Bowl history...when a hail mary is your signature play, you're Doug Flutie, not Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.
Good luck with Doug Flutie...
Eli was awful for long portions of the season. His team almost dropped out of the playoffs, and if it had he would be coming into this season fighting for his job. He had a few decent games, a few nicely managed playoffs games, didn't make too many mistakes, and had the privelage of meeting a broken Tampa team, a retarded head coach in Dallas, and a fluke game in frozen Green Bay. Then his defense had the game of it's life and he won the Super Bowl.
He wasn't the MVP. And by week 8 you'll all be calling for his head again. He's the same guy who threw a ridiculous number of interceptions and nearly got his head coach fired.
He was so bad, he even led me to say the following in a column prior to week 16's game against the Bills:
It's hard to describe exactly how bad Eli Manning's play has been recently. It really can't be overstated how bad he's been.
His play has been abhorrent, atrocious, awful, beastly, contemptible, cursed, deplorable, despicable, detestable, disgusting, execrable, heinous, hellish, horrible, loathsome, lousy, nauseating, odious, offensive, reprehensible, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rotten, stinking, terrible, very bad, vile, and wretched.
Other than that, he's been great!
To sum things up, I'm not impressed with Eli Manning. Very impressed with the Giants' defense.
from 3 months ago
Wow. Somebody here seems awfully bitter still, but I'll play along.
"Eli Manning nearly blew the Super Bowl. He had three interceptions dropped in that last drive."
Hmmm, nearly had three interceptions. Isn't that the same as saying he had no interceptions?
"His defining play was a hail mary that was caught by a WR who made the greatest individual effort in Super Bowl history"
You haven't really looked at that play have you? Because if you had you would have noticed Eli, after the escape, dropping back, quickly survey the field, spot Tyree, set his feet and launch it at him. Typically when throwing a Hail Mary pass, the quarterback usually doesn't bother with trying to see who is open or not. He's just winging it to a spot he thinks/hopes his man will be at.
"He had a few decent games, a few nicely managed playoffs games, didn't make too many mistakes, and had the privelage of meeting a broken Tampa team, a retarded head coach in Dallas, and a fluke game in frozen Green Bay."
Now that's revisionism. A broken Tampa team? The team with the No.1 pass rush in the league at the time? Playing at home, fully rested? Dallas made a ton of errors, none of which had to do with their coaching decisions that day. We caught most the breaks and escaped Texas Stadium. You are right about Green Bay being a fluke game. We should've won it in regulation, but a McQuarters fumble, a phantom holding penalty on a Bradshaw touchdown and two missed field goals resulted in a close overtime win. I'll take it. By the way, where was the fluke in Eli's play during that game where he and Plaxico Burress roasted Pro Bowler Al Harris all game long?
"He wasn't the MVP."
He's got a car and a trophy that says otherwise. Having two long 4th quarter touchdown drives really gives you the edge.
"It's hard to describe exactly how bad Eli Manning's play has been recently."
Recently? He just won the Super Bowl and was named MVP. Couldn't have been that bad. I know the loss hurts for you Bostonians but please, get over yourselves already. Enjoy the Celtics championship and move on.
from 3 months ago
The "recently" statement was from an article I wrote in week 16.
He had three passes dropped by Patriot defenders. That's not good, that's luck.
I welcome you to download the Tyree play from NFL.com and see what actually happened. To say it was anything but a Hail Mary is....a stretch.
I'm not bitter. The Giants played a fantastic game. I just wish those who deserved the credit (the Giants defense) actually got some. The fact that Eli Manning left a game he tried his hardest to blow with this new "hero" reputation among the same Giants fans that wanted him benched in week 15 is just insane.
Good luck this season!
3 months ago
My mistake on the "recently" line.
About the three dropped passes, well that might be luck but that's also football. It happens. As for the Tyree play, I have about 6 different angles of that play and I've watched them dozens of times. In my opinion to call it a Hail Mary is wishful thinking at best.
For the Giants defense, they've gotten tons and tons of credit. Michael Strahan is going to the Hall of Fame in five years not because of this game alone but it sure did help.
As for as Eli's new reputation, I'm wondering what exactly is it that you're hoping for. Should we still hate him? "That crazy evil bastard won us a Super Bowl. Let's fire his ass." That just doesn't sound right does it?
As for the Patriots this season, I would say good luck but you don't really need it. You've got a yellow brick road made out just for you guys to head into the playoffs again. I do hope to see you there though so we can finally bury this fluke notion once and for all.
3 months ago
Nice job Brian, the LT thing aside.
While Eli may not have the panache of Tony Romo or the supporting cast of Tom Brady, he is steadily improving at the toughest position in the NFL. What he does have is results: He's a stone-cold killer with the game on the line, a Super Bowl champ and Super Bowl MVP. Not bad four years into a career.
Lets take a look at what Eli's faced while learning his craft as an NFL quarterback. He was the Ist overall pick in his draft year, He's the son of a great QB and brother of perhaps the greatest QB of all time, and he plays in the toughest media market in the world. Next, he gets to replace Kurt Warner as starter six whole games into his rookie year. Not exactly the Tony Romo treatment eh?
There are mechanics and decision making issues that need to improve, and in truth have improved since his rookie season. But he is a bona fide winner now, call it luck or whatever you want, but Dan Marino ain't got a Super Bowl ring.
It's a hell of a lot easier coming into the league with low or no expectations like Brady and Romo. It's a hell of a lot easier when your being compared to Drew Bledsoe and Chad Henning as opposed to Archie and Peyton Manning. And it's a hell of a lot easier doing all that anywhere rather than New York, where they delight in tearing quarterbacks to shreds. Through all of that, the kid has shown a hell of a lot of poise and grace.
All and all, I think the Giants are pretty happy, and seem set at the QB position for a while.
from 3 months ago
I meant to reference Drew Henson above, not Chad Henning. More typing, lees thinking.
3 months ago
Eli and the giants never got any respect and way to much criticism until they won the Super Bowl. As a die hard Giant fan and growing up in New York i know the fans were not disappointed for the trade. We were disappointed when we had Rivers. We just went through a stretch of bad QBs Danny Kannel and Kerry Collins. We wanted a big name so we traded up 3 spots for a future HOFs brother and a great QB that was on a bad team as a father. Sure they got Nate Keading who had a great season and blew a kick in the playoffs for the loss. We gave up the 15th pick the next season who the steroid prone Chargers happened to find a gem in Shawne Merriaman. Eli had a rough couple of years and caused alot of frustration. He managed to over throw 6'7'' Plax Buresses, 6'4'' Amani Toomer, and 6'4" Jeremy Shockey. He had a great long ball but his mechanics were not good and he threw wobbly balls. He was never a vocal leader but that didn't stop him from finishing 3rd in the heisman and winning the super bowl. He also has shockey in the huddle who is a vocal leader. The Buccaneers were picked by every analyst to win and they got beat. The Cowboys shot them selves in the foot due to the emitt playoff curse and blamed jessica simpson. The Packers were outplayed and Favre made the last mistake of his career to end the game. Eli Manning and David Tyree made the greatest play in super bowl history. Eli managed to escape from 2 patriots where tyree caught the ball over his and rodney harrisons head. Eli has been playing well since week 17. He still has more developing to do and he won't be a vocal leader but as long as he keeps his mistakes down the giants will do well next season.
write a new comment