Tony Romo vs. Eli Manning: Why Romo Is Best QB in the NFC East

Is Tony Romo the best quarterback in the NFC East? The statistics quickly say yes. Romo's completion rating, touchdowns, interceptions and quarterback rating all state that he is a better field general than Eli Manning.

Eli threw for about 800 more yards than Romo, but his completion rating was five percentage points lower and he attempted more passes. Another stat to consider is Manning's penchant for throwing interceptions. He has 57 more interceptions over his career than Romo.

Advantage Romo.

Eli had his best season yet in 2011 as he threw for a career best in passing yards, yards per attempt, and he threw a 99-yard touchdown to receiver Victor Cruz. He also led the Giants to their second Super Bowl appearance in six years.

New York won the NFC East and rattled off two straight victories to end the season to make the playoffs. He was great when he needed to be, and the Giants are better because of him.

If the two players swapped teams, then I stand to believe that the Giants would be on their third Super Bowl appearence. Romo is more efficient, a better leader, consistent and just an overall better quarterback.

Now we can get into the semantics of Romo and his supposed proclivity for making a big mistake. We cannot rid his record of the games he had against the Lions and Jets.

However, Mr. Manning completed just nine passes against 27 attempts versus the Jets and the Giants still won. New York's defense and the Jet's porous offense is what aided the Giants victory that Sunday. M

anning had six games where he completed less than 58 percent of his passes and three games where he turned the ball over at least twice.

He has terrible body language, and when Eli gets into a funk it is tough for him to get out of it.

Romo likes to take chances, sometimes when they are not necessary, but those chances have a far better payoff than the mistakes.

But while I would like to argue about Romo's credentials against Eli's, Manning has made two Super Bowls and Romo none. Tony has one playoff win and Eli has multiple. The determining factor in this quarrel will be Eli's one Super Bowl ring.

He led the Giants to a world championship in 2007 and did so in grand fashion. There was the David Tyree helmet catch and the Plaxico Burress game-winning touchdown pass.

I cannot argue against results and championships, however, I can debate about statistics and hypotheticals.

I cannot change Romo's team and would not want to in the first place. I firmly believe that Romo is a better quarterback based off of the numbers and play on the field. Manning has the jewelry, but Romo has the numbers.

Bottom line is I like Romo better, and the numbers prove my case.