Eli Manning: The Right Choice for the New York Giants

Many people in the NFL have come under scrutiny for various reasons this season. Bill Belichick was under the microscope this year for his questionable spying tactics, but not because of his talent as a coach.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith's ability was put in to question. Matt Leinart of the Arizona Cardinals faced plenty of heat from critics when Kurt Warner outperformed him. Even veteran quarterback Chad Pennington landed on the hotseat.

But none of them were there as long or drug through the hot coals of public opinion like Eli Manning.

Maybe Eli was there because he is the younger brother of super-star Peyton Manning and son of Archie Manning. Maybe critics discussed his ability so often because he quarterbacks the New York Giants, one of the NFL's biggest franchises.

Or maybe it is because New York traded Phillip Rivers for Eli Manning after San Diego picked him first in the first round of the 2004 draft. But it wasn't just Rivers that New York gave up in that trade. It lost future draft choices who turned out to be Pro-Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman, kicker Nate Kaeding and left tackle Roman Oban.

Back then it seemed a lopsided trade, and it still is. But it seems to have worked out for the Giants being that they are headed to Super Bowl XLII and the Chargers are not.

In the first game of the season, Manning played pretty well, completing 28-of-41 attempts for four touchdowns and only one interception; a quarterback rating of 113.1.

However, in the second game Manning leveled off, completing only one touchdown to one interception. In the next eight games, he averaged a quarterback rating of 71.31. That rating doesn't seem spectacular enough to warrant trading away draft picks in both 2004 and 2005.

But then in week 17 against the unbeaten New England Patriots, Manning found himself. He learned how to be a quarterback. His rating —118.6— not so bad for a guy who was awful in the middle portion of the season.

Many people called it a fluke.

In the wild-card round his rating was 117.1. That was the highest of all the quarterbacks that weekend. In the game against Dallas, he had a 132.4 rating. Also, to this point, he had not turned the ball over once since the New England game.

Lastly, in the NFC championship game, he had a 72.3 rating. While it was far from a dominating outing, it was the highest rating of the four quarterbacks, including Tom Brady and Brett Favre. It was a solid rating for a game played in less than optimal conditions.

Maybe his Super Bowl run is just a fluke. Maybe he'll be like Rex Grossman next year and Manning will regress back to his old self.

Probably not though, because he is playing with confidence. He drove the giants 71 yards in 46 seconds before halftime, showing he is learning to play well under pressure, and that he has learned the hurry-up offense.

He has learned to spread the ball around more, throwing to rookie Steve Smith and veteran Amani Toomer four times in the divisional game. He threw to Smith twice and Toomer four more times in the NFC championship game. He learned to identify a matchup advantage with Plaxico Burress lined up against Green Bay cornerback Al Harris, targeting Burress 11 times in the championship game.  

Hopefully, this trend Manning has set for himself will continue through Sunday, and he can silence his critics once and for all.