Falcons vs Giants: Why Eli Manning's Experience Will Pay Big for New York

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning already has one Super Bowl victory to his name and he's going to have to draw upon that experience in order to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in his team's Wild Card playoff matchup today.

Manning has had the best regular season of his professional career in 2011, throwing for 4,933 yards, 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Though a number of other high-flying quarterbacks have gotten the bulk of the attention this year, Manning has played extremely well and has been the team's biggest difference-maker on offense.

However, Manning wasn't able to make a difference to the Giants in an area they need improving—playing well in the second half of the season. New York started the year 6-2 but finished the year 3-5.

Though they won their final two regular season games and earned themselves a NFC East title and a playoff berth, this inconsistency has been a fixture for the team since Tom Coughlin took over as head coach in 2004 and it does damage the perception of the Giants as being able to win convincingly in the playoffs.

The Giants haven't reached the postseason since 2008, when they lost in the divisional round to the Philadelphia Eagles. They won the Super Bowl the season prior to that and lost in the Wild Card rounds in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

The constant presence during that time has been Manning. For all his ups and downs, he's certainly the team's offensive leader and it is through him that the team's successes and failures have flowed.

The Giants will need Manning to play well if they are to beat Atlanta today and they will need him to continue to do so should they notch the victory and head to Green Bay to face the Packers next week.

Manning knows what a team must do in the postseason to reach the Super Bowl. He has enough experience to realize that it's not what a team does in the regular season that matters once the playoffs have begun, but what they can do in the present to earn wins.

Further, he has a great arm and a talented crew of receivers to help his team's efforts. The Giants are the 32nd-ranked team in the league in rushing yards per game, averaging just 89.2 in the regular season.

If New York is to put up points in the postseason, it's clearly up to Manning to make plays in order to do so. He needs to get his receivers on the same page as him for a full 60 minutes of football and he has to make the kinds of game-changing plays that are required out of playoff quarterbacks.

Though he's not the most experienced quarterback in the NFL playoffs this year, the number of postseason games Manning has played in his career can only benefit the Giants' chances to defeat the Falcons today.