Written February 8th, 2012<\/p>\n
As is often the case, I feel the need to start this column with a disclaimer: I have nothing against Eli Manning or the New York Giants. I actually pulled for them in their first Super Bowl win four years ago, and watched this year\u2019s game as an interested, but unbiased, observer (let\u2019s face it, unless you\u2019re from New England, the Patriots are pretty hard to root for).<\/p>\n
So the viewpoint I bring to you today, while certainly a minority one, is not one developed in resentment over a game result, but one that started in my head watching the Giants beat the Packers three weeks ago, the 49ers two weeks ago, and the Patriots in the Super Bowl last night.<\/p>\n
I have never seen a luckier big-game quarterback than Eli Manning.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll go into specific plays in a moment, plays that kept the Giants\u2019 run to the title alive that Eli had nothing (or very little) to do with, but first, I need to address the \u201cEli is a Hall of Fame Lock\u201d meme that has taken hold in the sports media after SB46.<\/p>\n
Manning\u2019s career regular season record is 69-50. His playoff record is 8-3, but all eight of those wins have come in the Giants\u2019 two Super Bowl runs. The Giants have been \u201cone-and-done\u201d three times in Manning\u2019s seven-year career, and missed the playoffs entirely twice. In one of those seasons, the Giants made the playoffs despite being 8-8, and in the other two, had home-field advantage and still lost their only game.<\/p>\n
Manning has the distinction of quarterbacking the Super Bowl champions with the two worst winning percentages, 10-6 in 2007 and 9-7 this year.<\/p>\n
Not exactly Hall of Fame stuff, in my opinion, but I\u2019ll tip my hat to him, he\u2019s got something special going for him. Let\u2019s examine how these two Super Bowl Championships came to be.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to just give one example of Manning\u2019s luck from the 2007 season, but it\u2019s a good one. Guy catches a game-changing pass on the top of his helmet. Yes, Eli made a nice play to evade the rush, and got the ball down there, but David Tyree, or any other receiver, makes that play \u201czero times out of a hundred.\u201d Chris Collinsworth wasn\u2019t doing that game, but that\u2019s what he would have said.<\/p>\n
That was the defining play of that game, and of that season, and for the quarterback, it was sheer luck that it worked out that way. If that pass falls incomplete, which by all rights it should have, Manning, obviously, is neither the winning QB nor the MVP.<\/p>\n
This season, I started paying attention to the Giants\u2019 luck in their divisional final game against Green Bay. The New York Times, however, was kind enough to write a story<\/a> before last nights\u2019 game listing a few regular-season breaks that went the Giants way and kept the playoff fires burning.<\/p>\n In Green Bay, the Giants benefited first from Packers\u2019 coach Mike McCarthy’s controversial decision to rest his starters in the final regular season game, which, combined with the bye week, gave them three weeks between meaningful snaps. The Packers, who also suffered a terrible personal loss with the death of the son of OC Joe Philbin, never got in synch, and QB Aaron Rogers saw his receivers drop six very catchable balls that could have helped his cause. The game turned on a Hail Mary play at the end of the first half that seemed to take Green Bay by surprise, despite the fact that they took a timeout prior to the play. They didn\u2019t have enough players in the end zone when the ball came down, and as a result went into halftime trailing 20-10 instead of 13-10.<\/p>\n Did Manning play well? Of course! He moved the ball against Green Bay\u2019s defense at will in the second half, and kept the ball out of Rogers\u2019 hands. Were the Giants very lucky that the Packers, who flirted with perfection until late in the regular season, picked that day to be decidedly imperfect? Yes, they were.<\/p>\n That luck held in San Francisco. Everyone remembers the Kyle Williams muff (unforced error) and fumble (great special teams play, Manning was on the sidelines) that turned the game around, but I think the two best examples of Manning\u2019s not being worthy of the \u201cMr Clutch\u201d label were two other fourth-quarter plays.<\/p>\n Eli threw two balls that not one, but two defenders had legit shots to intercept. As an added bonus for him, the first of those two plays knocked out CB Tarell Brown, and it was Brown\u2019s replacement who was exploited for the Giants\u2019 go-ahead TD. That score came just two snaps after the second of these throws, when Carlos Rogers and Dashon Goldson (who was also the one who collided with Brown earlier) interfered with each other\u2019s attempt to make the pickoff.<\/p>\n In neither case did Manning\u2019s intended receiver have any chance to catch the ball. If there had been only one defender present, there would have either been an interception or a drop. Either of those outcomes are acceptable, as the teams each get what they \u201cdeserve.\u201d Interception drops happen all the time, and when they do, the defense suffers as it should.<\/p>\n When, however, the ball hits the turf not as a result of a defender making a bad play, but because the pass was so poorly thrown that two defenders had a shot to intercept it, then the QB is one lucky son-of-a-gun, and to have it happen twice in one quarter with the Super Bowl on the line puts a guy into lotto-winner territory.<\/p>\n Were the Giants lucky to win the Super Bowl? I say yes. Again, Eli stood on the sidelines and watched an opposing offense drop pass after pass. When the Patriots had a chance to put the game away in the fourth quarter, Wes Welker dropped a pass that would have kept that drive alive. When Brady got the ball back unexpectedly with a chance to win the game, his first two passes were both dropped. The Giants fumbled three times, with one being nullified by a penalty and the other two bouncing right to teammates.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying that Eli Manning doesn\u2019t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame ever. I\u2019m just saying that his first seven years have been marked by inconsistency, and that his two crowning achievements were due more to luck than skill. There\u2019s no shame in that; luck is a big part of any sport. Ask a golfer who just crushed a drive and sees it land in a divot 300 yards away about that.<\/p>\n When we\u2019re talking about the Hall of Fame, however, we need to evaluate not just the end results, and not just the high points, of a player\u2019s career. The Bradys, Montanas and Bradshaws of the NFL reached the pantheon with consistent 12+win seasons, trips to the conference finals and Super Bowls, and season MVP awards. The only time Manning has won 12 games in a season he lost his first playoff game, despite a first-round bye and home field advantage. He has never led the league in any passing statistic.<\/p>\n So raise your glasses and tip your hats to the Giants and Eli Manning today. They won the games, which is what the Championship<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written February 8th, 2012 As is often the case, I feel the need to start this column with a disclaimer: I have nothing against Eli Manning or the New York Giants. I actually pulled for them in their first Super … Continue reading