Eli Manning Is Better Than Peyton Manning...Wait, What?

I recently saw a poll on ESPN that showed that fans right now think Eli Manning is a better quarterback than Peyton Manning.

If this doesn’t confirm the statement that, “you’re only as good as your last Super Bowl victory,” then I don’t know what does.

Although Eli Manning finally surpassing his older brother makes a great story line, it just isn't accurate.

Are people forgetting that Eli Manning last year had a quarterback rating of 74, while Peyton Manning had a quarterback rating of 98?

If you put Eli on the Colts instead of Peyton, the Colts would be lucky to have more than one win. Even with Peyton coming off a knee injury with a banged up offensive line and non-existent running game, he has won two close games by pure will. 

Peyton is just a more gifted passer than Eli, plain and simple. I have no doubt about it. Peyton this year has made passes this year that frankly only he could make. 

How many times this year has Peyton looked like he was about to get sacked and then threw that perfect pass to his receiver in the only spot they could can catch it.

Even though Eli has arguably had a better season so far, the Giants’ offense is clearly just better than Colts’ right now. The Giants lead the league in rushing yard a game with 181.2 yards a game, while the Colts are dead last with 69.4.

The main reason Peyton has looked human this year is that the Colts' starting left tackle Tony Ugoh has been out, perennial Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday was out the first two games, and other key lineman have been hurt. 

This has lead to the Colts, at times, playing with two rookies and two linemen starting at new positions, which in turn has lead to heavy pressure on Peyton Manning and no holes for the Colts' running backs to run through.

With all of the heavy pressure Peyton has endured, he already has been sacked nine times in his first five games, when he was sacked 21 times all of last year.

Although Eli is clearly not as good as Peyton, Eli is still a very good quarterback. However, he’s not as good as everyone is making him out to be. The truth is that Eli simply got hot in the playoffs and showed everyone that he isn’t that shy boy they thought he was that couldn’t lead a team to a championship.

But let’s not exaggerate here. One great playoff performance does not make a player better than a player who arguably could be the greatest quarterback ever. It’s not as if Peyton is past him prime. He’s only 32 and is still the same great player he has been the last five years. 

Even with how well Eli has played this year, he still has very similar statistics to Peyton. Eli is 4-1 and has seven touchdown and four interceptions, while Peyton is 3-2 and has eight touchdowns and five interceptions. I know everyone seems to be sold on Eli being a great quarterback, but I’m not.

What scares me about Eli Manning is that he is a confidence-ridden player and one bad game could ruin his confidence. While on the other hand, Peyton could have the worst game of his career and throw five touchdowns his next game.

Eli hasn’t hadn’t had a poor performance since the beginning of the playoffs last year, and I wonder what his reaction will be after having his first poor performance in a long time this past Monday night against the Browns.

Will Eli continue to play well and confident, or will Eli start to revert back to his old unsteady self?

To be honest, I’m not sure.

If any fan would honestly rather have Eli manning than Peyton Manning leading their team, than they should immediately get their head checked.