New York Giants: Why Eli Manning Deserves Hype That Media Spent on Tim Tebow

For the entire second half of the season, the media focused its attention on Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. Could he play? Was his success a fluke? Why do or don't people like him? 

In all of that discussion, the media missed out on how New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning led his team to the NFC Championship Game with a season full of late-game heroics and big plays. Frankly, Manning's season was far more impressive than Tebow's, yet he hasn't gotten half the ink of the second-year Denver quarterback.

Manning set an NFL record with 15 fourth-quarter touchdown passes, and his fourth-quarter passer rating of 110.0 ranked second in the NFL. The 31-year-old Mississippi product also led the Giants to five wins when they trailed in the fourth quarter this season.

On Sunday in the divisional round, Manning out-dueled Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who will likely win the NFL's MVP award. In that game, Manning completed 21-of-33 passes for 330 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception.

While Manning wasn't perfect this year (he did throw 16 interceptions), he certainly had numbers that warranted more praise than Tebow. His passer rating of 92.6 was nearly 27 points higher than that of the Broncos quarterback (72.9). 

Let's also remember that in the preseason after numerous players were lost for the year to injuries, almost everyone wrote off the Giants as having no chance at reaching the postseason. Not only did they make the playoffs, but they won the NFC East.

Manning is currently playing as well as he has all season and the Giants have won four games in a row. If he secures another Super Bowl berth on Sunday after the NFC Championship Game, you can bet people will be talking about him instead of Tebow.