Think about some of the athletes
who are compared to their famous relatives. Baseball has Ken Griffey Sr. &
Jr., also Bobby and Barry Bonds. Hockey has Bobby and Brett Hull. And although
football has Howie and Jake Long, almost everyone points to the Manning family.
Archie Manning, while playing for losing teams, was an NFL quarterback for
thirteen seasons and made two Pro Bowls. His son Eli Manning has surpassed him
in almost every category, statistics wise and overall winning. No question that
the aforementioned names in each sport were all compared to their famous
fathers at one time or another. The main difference for Eli is that he has also
been compared to another Manning, older brother Peyton. And what makes that
tougher, aside from the fact that Peyton has many, many passing records and
will go down as arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, none
of the younger names before had to be compared to someone that was playing at
the same time. Eli Manning has been in his father’s shadow, although Archie has
been retired for almost 30 years. But Eli has also been in Peyton’s much bigger
shadow, in his entire NFL career and throughout his entire life. However, Eli
has started to etch his name in NFL folklore.
Let’s
face it, Eli Manning came into the NFL in 2004 and immediately was behind the
eight ball. Not only was his brother the reigning MVP, which he won again in
Eli’s rookie season, but the college draft was as unkind for any #1 overall
pick, perhaps ever. The San Diego Chargers had the first pick in the 2004 NFL
draft. Before draft day in April, Eli, along with Archie, had decided he was
never going to play for the Chargers. He didn’t like the organization and was
ready to hold out until he was dealt to another team. That team became the New
York Giants, who in return, sent fellow quarterback Phillip Rivers and two
draft picks to the San Diego Chargers.
Who was this snot nosed younger
Manning who was calling shots and refusing to play for certain organizations? You
should just feel fortunate to be given an opportunity in the NFL. You’re not
Peyton Manning. You’re not the funny commercial guy we all love. That’s what
Eli faced right away. In his rookie season, he also faced the obstacle of
playing second string behind one-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP Kurt
Warner. Naturally Eli played sparingly in year one. But the Giants decided to
waive Warner and give the franchise keys to Eli in year two. The rich history
and tradition of the New York Giants now belonged to Eli Manning.
No matter what Eli did, it wasn’t
as good as Peyton. The Giants would win eleven games in Eli’s first full season
as a starter. That same year, Peyton’s Colts won fourteen. It would seem
fitting and appropriate that Peyton win a Super Bowl first. After all, he was
the older brother and had been in the league longer. Then something happened
the year following the Colts Super Bowl win. Eli’s Giants snuck into the
playoffs and upset the undefeated New England Patriots. Eli even had a couple of
signature plays in that Super Bowl, including the game-winning pass to Plaxico
Burress with seconds remaining in the game. Of course, everyone remembers the
escape from a sack and his heave to David Tyree who must have had bubble gum on
the top of his helmet. Since Eli’s Super Bowl MVP performance, he has put up
solid numbers and has now entered the conversation of elite quarterbacks. For
some reason, not everyone wants to put him in that class. Do you think part of
the problem is his name? Listen, I’m glad he doesn’t go by his given name
Elisha, but Eli is not much better. He doesn’t have the cool nickname like the
Mad Bomber or Big Ben. He doesn’t have the typical quarterback name like Joe
(Namath, Montana, Theismann, etc). He doesn’t have the typical one syllable
first name and two syllable last name (Len Dawson, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Jim
Kelly, Tom Brady, I could go on). In fact, I could make the argument that while
Jake Locker could only have been a quarterback; a name like Eli Manning belongs
in a bank.
However, should Eli win this Sunday’s
Super Bowl, that bank account gets a lot bigger. Should he win again, only Tom
Brady would have more Super Bowl victories as an active quarterback… and Eli will
have beaten him twice. Should Eli win again, he absolutely enters the topic of
top 5 quarterbacks today. Perhaps most important about Sunday, should Eli win,
he would pass his brother in Super Bowl victories. Who would have thought that
was remotely possible even six years ago? Now all he is missing is the cool
name. How about Electric Eli? Young Gun? Heck we could even start calling
Peyton Manning “Eli’s older brother.” I’m sure the name Eli wants most is “Eli
Manning, two-time Super Bowl MVP.”
No comments:
Post a Comment