Eli Manning vs. Tony Romo: NFC East's Best Quarterback

Now let's close by looking at the two quarterbacks over their careers.

(Instead of profootballfocus.com, the source here is pro-football-reference.com, which incidentally has no pay wall. Other sources that may be of interest include: coldhardfootballfacts.com)

At 31, Tony Romo has played for eight seasons, although the first two are statistically irrelevant. During the six seasons he has played he has started in 77 games and gone 47-30. His completion rate is 64.5 percent. He's thrown 149 TDs and 20,834 yards.

At 30, Eli Manning has played for eight seasons, during which he has started in 119 games. In those games he's gone 69-50. His completion rate is 58.4 percent. He's thrown for 185 TDs and 27,579 yards.  

And here's a statistic to consider: Romo has lead 13 fourth quarter comebacks and 14 game-winning drives.  Manning has 21 fourth quarter comebacks, and 25 game-winning drives. 

And then that one last statistic, Manning has been the MVP in two Super Bowls. Both included a fourth quarter comeback and a game-winning drive.

It's worth noting that the first regular season game of the 2012 season is between Dallas and New York at 8:30 PM on Wednesday, September 5. At the meadowlands.

Vick V Grossman

To suggest that Tony Romo is the best quarterback in the NFC East—and let's pull Eli Manning aside for a moment—is to say he is better than Michael Vick and Rex Grossman.  No argument there, you'd think.

Profootballfocus.com, PFF, using its own esoteric ratings formula, lists Romo in 10th spot overall—we're talking about quarterbacks during the regular season—tied with Matt Schaub and behind Matt Moore.  Yes, that's right, Matt Moore with the Miami Dolphins.

Below Romo is Vick in 12th spot and Grossman in 25th.  

If you change the PFF filters to reflect particular abilities, say as a runner, Vick stands in 5th place, behind Brees and just before Alex Smith. Then down the list in 14th place Grossman, followed by Romo AND Eli Manning, who of the four NFC quarterbacks is last in that category, below Rogers and above Cutler.

If you select the filter for just pass, Romo is in 10th spot again, followed by Vick in 12th place and Grossman in 21st. 

The point is that whether Romo is better than Manning, Romo is better than both Vick and Grossman statistically.

Romo V Manning (Pass / Regular Season, 2011)

In 2011, during the regular season, Profootballfocus.com puts Romo in third place (66.3 percent), in terms of completion percentage—just behind Brees and Rogers—and well ahead of Eli Manning in 13th place (61 percent), Vick in 19th place (59.8 percent) and Grossman down out of sight in 23rd place (57.9 percent).

So, yes, statistically Romo was the best QB in the NFC east in 2011 during the regular season, in terms of completion rate.  But look more closely at the numbers.  The difference between the two is 5 percent. Romo threw 522 balls of which 346 were caught; Manning threw 589 balls of which 359 were caught. 

And how many yards is that? Romo: 4,203 yards; Manning: 4,933.

OK, but if you're a Romo fan you point out that in terms of interceptions, Romo had 10; Vick, 14; Manning, 16 and Grossman, 20. Manning had six more interceptions, but the difference is inconsequential.

Romo V Manning (Run / Regular Season, 2011)

Now in 2011, who was the best QB in the NFC East, when it comes to the run?  Clearly Michael Vick, although you might not remember that in terms of ratings (and again we're talking about profootballfocus.com's home-brand, cumulative rating system). He followed Newton, Tebow, Ryan and Brees. 

Then after Vick, in this run-only rating, comes Grossman, Romo and Manning. To add perspective, Vick ran 52 times; Manning, 10 times; Romo, seven times; and in last place on the leaderboard, Grossman, who ran four times.

Romo V Manning (Postseason, 2012)

The real problem with Amani Toomer's claim, and he has not backed down from his original comments, is, of course, the postseason. In 2011, the Cowboys had no postseason, and went 1-4 in their last five games, including two straight losses at the bitter end.

The Giants weren't much better at 9-7, but then this is where you have to look at the effect of Eli Manning.  Romo may become an elite quarterback one day; he would seem to have that potential, but Manning is there.  He's done enough now to say that he has arrived.  

In the 2012 postseason he had the highest rating of all the quarterbacks who played in the post season including the begotten T.J. Yates. He had twice the statistical overall QB rating than his closest competitor, Drew Brees, and only a slightly lower completion percentage than Brees or Brady.  The difference between all three was four percentage points. 

Manning had the highest pass rating, and as you might expect the most attempts, completions, yards and TDs. Interestingly, he also took the most sacks and had the most dropped balls.

His overall QB rating for the 2012 post season was second only to Brees, and was followed by Smith and Brady.

If you look at both Romo and Manning, including both the regular and postseason this last year, Manning had the higher cumulative rating for the position, while Romo had a higher NFL rating. 

Romo V Manning (NFL Career)

Now let's close by looking at the two quarterbacks over their careers.

(Instead of profootballfocus.com, the source here is pro-football-reference.com, which incidentally has no pay wall. Other sources that may be of interest include: coldhardfootballfacts.com)

At 31, Tony Romo has played for eight seasons, although the first two are statistically irrelevant. During the six seasons he has played he has started in 77 games and gone 47-30. His completion rate is 64.5 percent. He's thrown 149 TDs and 20,834 yards.

At 30, Eli Manning has played for eight seasons, during which he has started in 119 games. In those games he's gone 69-50. His completion rate is 58.4 percent. He's thrown for 185 TDs and 27,579 yards.  

And here's a statistic to consider: Romo has lead 13 fourth quarter comebacks and 14 game-winning drives.  Manning has 21 fourth quarter comebacks, and 25 game-winning drives. 

And then that one last statistic, Manning has been the MVP in two Super Bowls. Both included a fourth quarter comeback and a game-winning drive.

It's worth noting that the first regular season game of the 2012 season is between Dallas and New York at 8:30 PM on Wednesday, September 5. At the meadowlands.