On the New York media: "Anytime you're the quarterback of a professional team in New York, there's going to be tough times. The way the media works, it's `What have you done for me lately?' Winning the Super Bowl is good, because I got five months while they praise me. But if I lose the first game, they'll hate me."
So good, so true :o)

On whether he has any advice for how the Redskins can turn themselves around: "Any advice I would give would be false."

Ha!

He Eli,
I hope you liked my instruction video's. It sure seemed like they came in handy in the Super Bowl huh.

greetings,

“I wish I knew; I really don’t know. If I did, I couldn’t reveal my secret. (smiles) I guess it was all that physical fitness I had.”

Nah, it was the Giants getting him with the #1 overall pick.

Great. This guy throws a record 10 almost-interceptions in the superbowl, played horribly until the very last pass, which btw was thrown to the wrong shoulder of Burress, and suddenly everyone wants his attention.

Yeesh, Gozer, still bitter much?

No I'm not bitter! I just want to point out that the guy threw the ball up for grabs the entire game! You see that pass to boss? It was in the air for almost 30 yards! Anyone could've hypothetically grabbed that pass!

Re #5

Dont forget his Dilfer-esque performance in Dallas where he led his team to a scintillating 57 yds of 2nd half offense including 0 1st downs in the 4th quarter...

But alas, history is written by the victors.

#8

You're exactly right. After completing an 11 yard pass to Smith for 1st & goal, Eli didn't complete a damn thing for the rest of that quarter! Probably because he didn't attempt any passes during the Giant's final two possesions, and that's because he was scared!

Eli Manning is the best quarterback in football right now.

Jeez... I'm a cowboys fan, and I'm still bitter about that playoff loss... but you guys need to lighten up and let him have his moment in the sun! He did just win the damn superbowl, after all.

No! Now is the time for more irrational debate, such as the introduction of the 'near-interception' statistic.

What 10 meant to say is Eli is the best quarterback who plays in New York right now. For his division he's 3rd or 4th best. For the whole NFL... geesh... I don't have enough fingers. ;)

hehe... "geesh"... a potent mixture of sheesh and gee

13

I hope you and Gozer are just as bitter next year as this year.

I must suck at being facetious.

10 meant "right now" as in the off-season! Brady is best ever.

FO, please stop toying with the NYC readers and get back to some good old Patriot loving!

So who's the better QB? Tom Brady or Eli Manning?

(Note to FO staff - this does not constitute thread-hijacking since it does not involve Peyton. If it does start another crazy irrational debate ... boo yeahhh I just contributed to FO legacy).

A more interesting debate might be, who's better: Joey Harrington or Eli Manning? Because every relevant statistic says Harrington is better. Manning isn't in the same league as Matt Schaub or Jay Cutler.

Manning had a nice couple weeks, but the Giants are the world champions because of their defensive line, and I'm skeptical that Manning is now a Whole New Quarterback, rather than a mediocre quarterback that had a nice couple of weeks.

#19: That's silly. Manning rated higher in DVOA and DPAR in 2005 and 2006 two years than Harrington ever has, this is the first year Harrington has had a positive DVOA, and Harrington has had several seasons worse than the one Manning had this year. The only thing one can say from "all relevant statistics" is that Manning had a one year downturn.

#19 As well as the defensive line played the Giants were behind 14-10 with less than three minutes to play.

They were also down 7-3 at the beginning of the 4th quarter.

Magic dust didn't score two td's in the 4th quarter.

Still the revisionism is nice.

Maybe you would like to compare Ryan Leaf to Eli Manning.

Eli may have been a SB MVP

But Ryan Leaf actually played in San Diego.

When was the last time a QB won a SB all by himself ?
I would say Young vs the Chargers...
So, it closes the debate, Eli is a good enough QB to allow his team to win the SB, that's all is required.

"When was the last time a QB won a SB all by himself ?"

You know, I don't ever seem to recall a team ever lining up only a single player against 11 in any game much less a superbowl.

Plus players haven't played both ways since the 50s, so it's even more unlikely that a QB has one any game much less a superbowl by himself.

Get back to FO basics: Giants were the worst ever SB team and only won because they got lucky. Eli is Eli. Brady is Brady, best ever. Patriots 19-0 in '08.

Actually the Giants were only the worst ever Superbowl winning team in the last 13 years. There were about equal to the Panthers, who were very close to winning, and probably some other teams, I don't have the DVOA of all Superbowl teams memorized.

Not to mention the 58 Superbowl teams preceding the Cowboys and Steelers. For instance, I can't imagine the '85 patriots had all that high of a DVOA.

The Giants are a better team than the Patriots right now.

#16 - No, you just demonstrated that the problem with facetious pseudo-trolling is its indistinguishability from actual trolling.

Gotta say, I thought the facetiousness was pretty obvious.

As for Eli, look at it this way: after four years as a pro, his best performance (which was in 2005) was essentially league average. At no point in his career to date has he been as good as Kurt Warner, whose starting job he took as a rookie. At no point in his career to date has he been even nearly as good as the 2007 edition of Sage Rosenfels. And he has been getting progressively worse since his sophomore season. He is a legitimate NFL starter, but that's about the nicest thing you can say about him at this point. Lousy use of a #1 overall pick.

Still, you can't say he's worse than Harrington. That's pushing it.

On the other hand, I can't go for that "good enough to win a Super Bowl" thing. QBs you wouldn't want starting for your 6-10 team have been good enough to win a Super Bowl, so it's not all that flattering.

Eli is not very good right now, but he can still get better. He's young.

As we know DVOA and DPAR have a very poor predictive ability, so this question may be of greater interest: who do you want to QB your team going foward, Eli or Brady? The past is obvious, so it needs no mention. Consider 2008-2012 or whatever. My gut is that Brady's best is behind him, and Eli's is ahead. Will it be better than Brady's decline years? I say yes!

Number 28

A QB is drafted number 1 by a franchise for one reason...To give the team a chance to win playoff games and a Super Bowl.

Eli threw two td's in the 4th quarter to win a Super Bowl.

If as many believe the Giants are a fluke and Eli will never do anything again. The man lead his team down the field to win a championship.

That is what your team plays for the Super Bowl. Eli helped deliver it.

Whatever the future holds he is not "a lousy use" of a number 1 pick.

Re 31:

"A QB is drafted number 1 by a franchise for one reason…To give the team a chance to win playoff games and a Super Bowl."

Isn't that why every player the team drafts is drafted?

Plus, the Giants didn't even draft him.

32

Not really some people are drafted for depth reasons... I don't think the Giants backup QB Jared Lorenzen aka JLoad was drafted to lead his team the SB.

And true the Chargers drafted Eli number one but the Giants traded for that pick because they believed Eli would win a championship.

Okay, so if two years ago someone had predicted that we would one day have Pats fans arguing that it isn't about winning and losing the SB that determines how good a QB is, it is about stats, and that besides, there are 89 other guys dressed for the game too,what sort of odds would you have laid on that prediction? 100-1? What if the person went further and said that it would be a guy named Manning that sparked the change of heart? 10000-1? What about if the person went even further and said the change would stem from a guy named Manning defeating golden boy in the SB on a clutch, late game scoring drive that put his team ahead? 100000000-1?

1000000000000000000000-1, at least. I mean, I'd have just laughed them out of the room if they'd said something so utterly ridiculous.

Not really some people are drafted for depth reasons… I don’t think the Giants backup QB Jared Lorenzen aka JLoad was drafted to lead his team the SB.

You didn't say 'lead his team to the SB.' You said "give his team a chance to win playoff games and a Super Bowl.' I'm positive that's why they drafted Lorenzen - because they thought he would develop into a QB that could get them through a game or two if their starting quarterback got injured.

Even if they just drafted Lorenzen to run the scout team, they would do that because they thought he has the best chance of helping them scout other teams so they can win more games.

#32 is right. The statement that you made applies to every person who is drafted.

36 There is the letter and spirit of the law and post.

I think most understood the spirit of my post.

Still to clarify....

Eli was drafted number 1 to lead his team to a Super Bowl and win it.

Eli did that.

Sorry to be so late to the party. Gozer, you are not bad at being facetious. The problem is the ridiculous length to which you would have to go to effectively parody the Eli Haters. Once more, yes the Giant defense was great. But Brady still took the Pats down the field for a go ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter against them. Not one defensive player made a block, caught a pass or threw a completion with time running out against a team that knew you had to pass. The Giants D could not keep a 4th quarter lead. Eli bailed *them* out at the end. I am eagerly awaiting the institution of the "Near Interecption" statistic. Maybe, and I'm guessing here, that when you have to throw against a good team that is selling out against the pass sometimes the coverage might be tight.(sarcasm alert) Maybe Eli should've thrown those "near interceptions" away or taken a sack so as not to look bad. Oh, and his "secret" to getting out of that sack? It was Seubert and O'Hara not giving up on their blocks. The Pats couldn't bring him down because they were only able to reach out and grab him, no leverage, no weight. Basic football that everybody seems to have missed. Hold your block.

One reason the patriots lost is because of the decline of their defensive line.

The ones bashing Eli can be excused only because they didn't watch Archie play and didn't see Eli until he reached the pros. Peyton is real good but he doesn't have the magic of his father and brother. Mark my word, you really haven't seen nothing yet.