New York Giants Strike Out With Eli Manning

Eli Manning and Philip Rivers face each other in this afternoon's tilt between the New York Giants and San Diego Chargers; it's fun to reflect about the Class of 2004 quarterbacks featuring Manning, Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger.

Everyone loves to compare and contrast the heralded class because of the link they will forever share.

The Giants, Chargers, and the Steelers drafted the three quarterbacks, respectively, and they often speak about how they made the right decision. It's easy for them to brag when their choices live up to their billing by leading their team to victories.

With that said, I wonder if the Giants made the right move in drafting Manning.

He won a Super Bowl by orchestrating a great postseason run in 2008, and he did well last year.  After watching him struggle this past postseason and in recent weeks, however,  it's easy to second-guess then-Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi's thought process.

The Giants' quarterback continues to show his inconsistency by throwing incompelete passes and interceptions. At times, he puts himself in a position to be sacked by being indecisive on who to throw to.

He tends to fall apart rather than figuring out how to avoid being sacked. This is not what the Giants paid him to do when they gave him an extension a few months ago.

Everyone thought he figured it out by now, but that has not been the case. One wonders if this is going to be the norm for Manning; it probably is after watching him for several years.

Accorsi should have drafted Big Ben when all was said and done. The Steelers' quarterback knows what he is doing when he is lining up behind center.

Everyone expects him to make plays and figure out a way to make something out of nothing. Just when the linemen sacks Roethlisberger, he finds a way to get past them and run for the first down.

He knows what it takes to be a leader at that position, and his teammates on offense pick up from that. It's hard to teach these things, but that's what makes him special.

Manning can't do what Ben does well so it's easy to criticize Accorsi.

As for Rivers, he evolved into an elite quarterback a couple of years ago. His performance in the AFC Championship Game in 2009 was something else.

He put the Chargers in a position to win by throwing the ball past the Patriots' secondary despite the fact that he played hurt. That's called being a football player.

It's rare he makes mistakes in a game. Everyone expects him to lead his team in scoring points.

With Manning, that's not the case. It seems we wonder if he will be at his "A" game or his "D" game every week.

The Giants should never wonder about that at this point of Manning's career. He has played long enough to figure it out.

It's great that Manning won a Super Bowl already, but so what? Trent Dilfer performed well when he won the Super Bowl in 2001.

Great quarterbacks sustain great performance year in and year out, and that's where Roethlisberger and Rivers beat Peyton's little brother.

The Giants say the right things about their beleaguered quarterback because, well,  what can they say? Team's never admit they are wrong, and considering he got an extension, they can't second-guess themselves publicly.

Deep down though, Giants general manager Jerry Resse muses privately about what could have been.

It's only natural when the Steelers' quarterback won two Super Bowl rings with more to come.