Super Bowl MVP 2012: Why Second MVP Cements Eli Manning's Elite Status

We can put the Eli Manning "elite" conversation to rest once and for all.

The Giants quarterback's second Super Bowl MVP is not only enough to cement that status, but it puts him into rarefied air that only few other quarterbacks have earned the right to breathe.

Eli is now the fifth player in history to win multiple Super Bowl MVPs. He's one of only three quarterbacks in the league with multiple Super Bowl rings—Tom Brady and Ben Roethlisberger are the others—and he's only 31 years old.

When the conversation of "elite" quarterbacks comes into question, there is no doubt that Big Blue's No. 10 is among them now.

On top of his Super Bowl performance, his entire body of work this season has been at an elite level.

Manning finished the postseason with nine touchdowns, only one interception and a 65 percent completion percentage.

But numbers do not do Eli justice. When you watch the Giants signal-caller, it is clearly apparent that he's a different quarterback than what he once was. No quarterback is calmer under pressure, and nobody is more dangerous with the football in his hands and the game on the line.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin was quoted as saying, "That was quite a drive that he was able to put together. He deserves all the credit in the world, because he really has put his team on his shoulders all year."

Phillip B. Wilson of the Indianapolis Star also put it in perspective writing:

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Super Bowl XLVI will be forever etched in our memories as Eli Manning exemplifying greatness. He leaves town with a new Corvette and his legacy among the elite unquestioned.

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There almost couldn't have been a better ending for Eli and the Giants this year. Not only did he beat Tom Brady again, but he did so with the clock winding down and the game on the line.

It is simply what Eli Manning does because of what Eli Manning is: simply elite.