Toss Up Between Big Ben and Eli Manning

We have all heard of the big Peyton Manning and Tom Brady rivalry, and how it has tended to be the deciding factors in the Super Bowls in the past decade, but I feel a new rivalry arising. Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger were both drafted in the 2004 NFL Draft and have both won a Super Bowl. The two have only gone against each other twice, but both games were exciting and close.

In their 2004 encounters, these two teams combined for a total of 63 points and it ended up being a 33-30 win for Big Ben. Ben and the Steelers went to the Super Bowl in 2005 as an 11-5 wild card team against a very powerful Seahawks team and thrashed them.

Eli and the Giants were a 10-6 team when they went in 2007 and went on to stun the previously undefeated Patriots. The Steelers came into the 2008 season with high hopes and are currently looking like Super Bowl contenders yet again, while the Giants came into the season off of what many called a fluke season to also become Super Bowl contenders. The two quarterbacks have much more in common than just a draft date. Their passing stats are almost identical this year, but this wasn't true in the beginning of their careers.

Big Ben took over for a  very good Steelers team and was handed the reigns from Tom Maddux, who threw for 2621 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 13 starts in 2004. Eli, in seven starts, threw for 1043 yards, six touchdowns (two of which came against the Steelers), and nine interceptions. The Steelers, in 2004, were 15-1 and one game away from the Super Bowl, while Eli and the Giants were 6-10, which showed who really should have been that top pick in the draft.

In the years to follow, Eli has led his team to three playoff berths in his first three years as a full time starter, while Ben has taken the Steelers to three playoff berths in his four years as their full time starter, and they both have that special ring. Ben has been voted to a Pro Bowl in his career, while Eli has not been voted to any.

Once Eli got the starting position, he hasn't given it up and has started in 66 consecutive games, even with a shoulder injury last year that was supposed to keep him out for at least a month. Ben has been injured and out of the line up six times in his career.

Now, why say that this might be the new Peyton vs. Brady rivalry? Well these two teams both have very high chances of making it to the Super Bowl and facing one another, which would be the true deciding tally in the two players careers. It would be the battle of the 2004 class. Originally, it was thought that it would be Phillip Rivers vs. Eli in the Super Bowl, but the consistency of Eli and Ben says that these two have the chance to bring a very suspenseful match-up to Tampa in 2008.