Pro Football Articles Opinion & Fantasy – Football Diner

What is an ELIte Quarterback?
by Paul Hopkins
February 9th 2012
 
He’s been at it again.
 
Sunday night in the town normally lit up by his big brother, Eli Manning saw off Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for the second time in four years to not only shatter Brady and Belichick’s chances at immortality, but to put himself amongst the discussion of the all-time greats in the League.
 
This was his eighth fourth quarter comeback of the season. Eight. The Giants played twenty games in their season, and Eli led them back in nearly half of them. Considering the Giants ‘only’ won 13 of these games, it just goes to show you how much they have relied on their QB this year.
 
Eli’s somewhat slouched, almost lackadaisical demeanour has, ever since he was drafted been used against him. And when he was traded to the Giants after refusing to go to San Diego, he was forever going to be looked at alongside Philip Rivers. A guy who arguably might have more talent, and carry himself like an alpha-male football player chirping from the sidelines at anyone he chooses, but a guy who now simply cannot compare to the younger Manning.
 
Much will and probably is being written about Eli Manning and his place in history right now. NFL followers are obsessed with comparisons, perhaps unsurprisingly for a sport dominated by statistics and rankings. So we get comparisons Montana, Brady, Bradshaw, Starr, Aikman, Elway and so on.
 
But what exactly defines elite and why are NFL fans seemingly so obsessed by it?
 
For me, it’s a moot point. The criteria differ from person to person and player to player. Favre is but Aikman isn’t. Peyton Manning is, but Terry Bradshaw isn’t. The arguments are really quite irrelevant.
 
Does it matter if there are four elite QBs playing right now, or five?
 
Part of the argument for Eli is that he is now a two-time Superbowl winning MVP. However, his older brother Peyton is still seen by many as one of the all-time greats despite only having one Superbowl victory to his name and countless other disappointments along the way. Perhaps it was just how bad the Colts were this season when he didn’t suit up.
 
Terry Bradshaw was in four Superbowls and won them all. Yet talk to people about the best QBs of all time and nine out of ten people won’t mention him. Granted, he had the Steel Curtain around him.The knock on Troy Aikman has a similar echo, despite having three rings and no losses; this was because he had all-stars around him. John Elway lost more Superbowls than he won and got hammered in more than one of those.
 

All of these top QBs have enjoyed some measure of quality around them. After all, football is the ultimate team game. Dan Marino didn’t have a single Superbowl victory to his name but nobody questions his credentials. So surely it was those around him who let him down? But at what point do you think that the best can drag a team all the way to the big game?
 
This discussion seems to be more about validation than anything else. Does anyone care if they’re regarded as elite so long as they win? At the end of the year, only one Quarterback can end up triumphant.
 
This sort of debate is best left for evaluating when careers are over. But right now, with two rings and two MVP awards and a season like 2010, Eli Manning is full deserving of being in discussions about the best in the clutch when he retires.He may not be finished. Having just turned 31 last month he may go onto build on what he has already achieved in the years to come.
 
Eli Manning is probably the most unassuming candidate for entry into the roped-off area marked only for ‘elite’ Quarterbacks. Unlike Montana and Elway who by simply looking at them, you knew they were a leader, Eli’s body language is loose;in this age of NFL Films and facial expressions defining this league, he is the antithesis of this. His face never shows any expression that wouldn’t look out of place on a fifteen year old getting upset with his mother. But he has grown into a mature leader in a hotbed atmosphere. He is erratic at times, he has had spells in his career where he’s looked woeful, but he’s fought back and found himself at the top of the tree.
 
And let’s not forget, New York was the place he chose to go to. This displays an internal toughness that is probably his most outstanding feature. When others would have faded and gone into a shell which Eli has been previously accused of doing, he’s kept his own counsel, built his inner resolve and when his team have needed him, he’s got them win after win. Whether he is elite or not is irrelevant.
 
Eli wins, simple as that.
 
When the history of football is committed to words, there will be others more noted than Eli Manning. There will be others who haven’t achieved what Eli will but have provided more iconic memories the likes of Favre for example. But somewhere in the background, the accomplishments of Eli Manning will lurk, just out of the full glare of everything. And you get the feeling that, unlike his brother, this is just how he would prefer it to be.