I've been thinking about this more and almost feel as though Giants' fans have been conditioned to dislike QBs. Indeed, this distinction may be true for NYC fans in general. For a long time the Giants' had excellent defenses but subpar (to be kind) QBs. Perhaps this mentality has stuck and Eli is a victim of it. Either way, he's definitely one of the best QBs in the NFC, and at least top 7 in the NFL (arguably higher). I'd like to say that people compare Eli to Ben and Rivers and bash him because the onset of his career wasn't as glorious as theirs. I don't know if this can still be looked at as a reason though; at this point you can almost switch Eli, Ben, and Rivers at will as they've all accomplished so much.
Rivers??? YUCK! He is a baby and has not accomplished anything. That team is going nowhere fast with that coach.
That team may be going backwards, and he may be a little whiny, but he IS accomplished. Most any team other than the Saints would love to have him. Rivers is one hell of a QB.
QB's I'd rather have than Eli Manning when all things are taken into consideration including age and future value (not in the order I'd like to have them, just the list): Mark Sanchez Philip Rivers Ben Roethlisberger Joe Flacco Matt Ryan Aaron Rodgers Drew Brees That's a fairly short list. Giants fans who aren't really happy with Eli need to realize that the odds they'll get somebody better are really low unless they luck into a top 5 pick in the right year.
Defeated Peyton Manning twice in the playoffs. Won 2 games with a Torn ACL and nearly beat New England. Career year last year...3 playoff wins, 3 Division Titles as 3 years being the starter. Hasn't accomplished anything? Imagine if they didn't have such inept coaches such as Marty or Norv. If I'm starting a team Rivers is in my Final 4.
I'd call you out on the Sanchez selection, but that's more or less exactly what I would think/feel if roles were reversed between the Giants and Jets, so I actually respect you a lot for saying it. Ryan and Flacco appear to be the real deal, but I'm going to give it time. The game film on them is out and opposing DCs are going to take away what they enjoy doing. Brees I would easily take over Eli, and I've already made clear my thoughts on Rivers and Ben. Rodgers is an enigmatic one, he has some great games but also some questionable ones. The one thing about Rodgers that I really want to see is his ability to stay healthy; he was good this past season but he's had injuries throughout his young career.
To be honest, my impression was that this all ended with the Super Bowl win, but I admit that I don't talk about it with too many Giants fans. My cousin and my uncle are huge Giants fans, and they have certainly defended him vociferously since that playoff run. At this point it seems pretty clear to me that while he's still somewhat erratic, he's getting better in terms of that, and certainly has what it takes at the end of games.
Rivers and Brees both had teams easily as good as the Giant team that won the SB and never came close to playing a team as good as the 07 Pats and didn't do squat. Brees crumbled in the NFC final against Chicago. Eli played incredible on the road in Dallas against a better team than the Bears team that went to the SB. Won in Green Bay in very tough conditions and beat a NE team as good as any in NFL History. Other than Rothlisberger there is no one on your list who has accomplished anything close to what Eli has.
I pin that 06 title game loss on the defense and in particular Fred Thomas. The 2006 Saints defense was not in the same ballpark as the 2007 Giants defense, especially along the defensive line.
Drew Brees shit the bed in the 06 title game. Outdoors he simply wasn't very good and he wasn't very good against the Jets in 04 in his building and in 05 the Chargers had arguably the most talented team on both sides of the ball in the league and didn't make the playoffs. Payton Manning in bad weather shreded the same Chicago D in the SB that Brees couldn't do squat against.
Actually the N.O. WRs shit the bed in that game. Aside from Bush's 88-yard TD catch and run, Brees did not get help that day. Was Brees exceptional that day? Of course not. I wouldn't say he shit the bed, though. He certainly was good vs the Jets in the '04 Wild Card game. You wrote he "wasn't very good". Maybe he wasn't very good, but he was certainly good or at least better than average. Because I don't want to get into semantics, I'm bowing out of this particular part of the conversation right now. You can have the final word, if you wish. As for the '05 Chargers, they were one of the strangest teams in league history. They had that big win against the undefeated Colts, but only finished 9-7. They had a tough schedule and lost a bunch of close games. If Brees didn't get hurt in Week 17, maybe they would have finished 10-6. That still would not have been enough to make the playoffs. The defense was the biggest problem for the team that year.
Can someone PLEASE explain to me the love-affair everyone has with Cutler? The guys is the most over-rated player in the NFL. He has accomplished NOTHING!
It's not all giants fans, but some just don't like him. They always wanted him to be like Brees or Cutler, fiery, and that's something he is not. Even the media for the longest time used to rip on him for that, until he started winning, and now they use that as a positive. I always been a fan of his and supported him. What hurt us was having a stupid OC in Hufangel, while Rivers/Brees & Ben had Cam Cameron, and Ken Whisenhunt. We screwed up with hiring two idiotic coordinators actually. Tim Lewis was another bone head hiring. Thank god Huffy and Lewis are gone.
