Giants vs. Patriots: Eli Manning Is Elite with or Without Super Bowl 2012 Win

It might be hard to believe this, but winning Super Bowl XLVI will do nothing to bolster Eli Manning's resume as an elite, future Hall of Fame quarterback. 

That doesn't make a lot of sense, right? After all, Eli Manning has already won a Super Bowl, two NFC Championships, including a playoff win at Lambeau Field in each of those two years.

If he has all of that, and then adds a second Super Bowl win—beating Tom Brady each time—how could that not make him elite?

The answer to that is quite simple: Manning is already elite. His Hall of Fame jacket is already being fitted. Look at his numbers since becoming a full time starter in 2005. They will tell you all that you need to know. 

	Comp. Percentage	Yards	Touchdowns	Interceptions
2005	52.8	3,762	24	17
2006	57.7	3,244	24	18
2007	56.1	3,336	23	20
2008	60.3	3,238	21	10
2009	62.3	4,021	27	14
2010	62.9	4,002	31	25
2011	61.0	4,933	29	16

The only thing that you could hold against him is the interception total. But that hasn't kept his team from winning games. His record since 2005 is 68-44, not to mention a Super Bowl win.

If he didn't have such a good record in the regular season as well as the playoffs, I would hold the interceptions against him as well.

But those don't work against him, while Manning's good numbers can be largely attributed to the good record. 

That doesn't mean Manning is as good as his brother, or Tom Brady, but he doesn't need to be. They are arguably two of the top five quarterbacks in the history of the game. There are a lot more than five quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame. 

Manning's resume is already stellar, and it's not done being written. Even if he loses badly in Super Bowl XLVI and never wins another Super Bowl, he's already got that monkey off of his back. 

Eli is 31 and since becoming the Giants' starter in 2005, has never missed a game. We can conservatively guess that he'll be around for five more years. Sticking with the conservative theme, let's assume that he'll average his worst seasons of yards and touchdowns.

That would give Manning 43,769 career passing yards and 290 touchdowns. As things stand now, that would have him ninth on the all time yardage list and tied for eighth on the touchdown list. 

See that and ask yourself if he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Now, consider that those numbers are conservative. He will likely be around for more than five more seasons, and will average better than 3,238 yards and 21 touchdowns per year.

All of those numbers mean that Eli's legacy is set. This is certainly a golden era for quarterbacks, and he's a part of that. Manning's resume and numbers stand up fine to anyone's. He not only puts up tremendous stats, but also leads his team to victories. 

Obviously, winning another Super Bowl (or more) would be great. But if that never happens, Manning will have to apologize to nobody when he's enshrined in Canton. 

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