Giants vs. 49ers: NFC Championship Game Features Battle of Forgotten QBs

The 2011 NFL season was long billed as the Year of the Quarterback, though it clearly narrowed into the Year of Some Quarterbacks over the course of the campaign. Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady soaked in the spotlight among elite veteran quarterbacks. Cam Newton and Andy Dalton garnered plenty of publicity for their historic rookie seasons.

Even Peyton Manning, who took nary a single snap this season on account of a neck injury, stole his fair share of headlines for the negative impact his absence had on the Indianapolis Colts.

And, of course, there was Tim Tebow, defying all football logic by leading the Denver Broncos to the AFC West title while simultaneously stirring a rabid following and a heated national debate.

But what of Eli Manning and Alex Smith? Both were showered with their fair share of attention coming into the season and have outshone the best of the best on their way to Sunday's NFC Championship Game between the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers.

Eli Becomes the Man-ning

Eli assumed the responsibility of representing the Manning legacy while brother Peyton was out. He claimed before the season that he deserved to be considered among the elite quarterbacks in the NFL, essentially that you can't spell "elite" without "Eli."

A curious claim at the time, to say the least, considering Manning was coming off a 2010 season in which he led the NFL with 25 interceptions.

Manning did more than enough to put his money where his mouth was, reducing his pick total to 16 while throwing for 29 touchdowns, including a record 15 in the fourth quarter, and nearly becoming the fourth quarterback this season (and the fifth all time) to rack up 5,000 yards through the air.

Oh, and he did it for a Giants team that won the NFC East despite sporting the NFL's least productive ground game and a defense that was beyond depleted behind a banged-up line.

Still, Manning found himself largely overshadowed heading into the postseason. That said, if his results thus far are any indication—six touchdowns against just one pick along with 303.5 yards per game in dominant victories over Matt Ryan's Atlanta Falcons and Rodgers' Green Bay Packers—then Eli wasn't exactly deterred by the lack of attention.

Mr. Smith Goes Back to San Francisco

Neither was Alex Smith, who parlayed a similar media snub into a career-making performance in a 36-32 shootout victory for his 49ers over Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.

Smith's breakout performance (299 yards, four total touchdowns) was as remarkable on its own merits as it was for what it represented—a long-awaited coming of age for the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft.

Smith entered the 2011 season with his NFL career hanging in the balance after six subpar seasons in San Francisco, each of which featured a different offensive coordinator. He returned to the Niners on a one-year, $4 million pact, out to prove that he can be an effective NFL quarterback while making good on the team's wavering but nonetheless persistent faith in him. 

With his teammates and his coaches in his corner, Smith enjoyed an efficient, if unspectacular, campaign in Year 1 of the Jim Harbaugh Regime in the Bay Area, accumulating just five interceptions against 17 touchdowns for a QB rating of 90.7 while quietly leading the Niners' sudden 13-win renaissance.

Then came the Divisional Round game against the Saints, wherein Smith led the Niners to three crucial scoring drives in the fourth quarter, including two trips to the end zone in the final 2:11.

Can't-Miss QBs

Now, Smith will have another golden opportunity prove himself against a similarly overlooked quarterback when Manning steers Big Blue into Candlestick Park for the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers won the regular season meeting between the two, 27-20, though the playoffs will be an entirely different animal, especially when considering the historic rivalry between New York and San Fran.

At the center of it all, though, will be Manning and Smith, two guys who likely couldn't care less about the Year of the Quarterback, and for good reason.

After all, they both have their eyes firmly fixed on the task at hand—guiding their respective teams to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

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