"I Believe In Eli, I Believe He Can Touch The Sky..."

What started out as a joke, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has been literally singing Eli Manning's praises for years now.  After a great regular season, a near perfect post season and another Super Bowl MVP award, Primetime is not the only one.  For years "experts" claimed Eli would never emerge from the shadow of his much more successful older brother Peyton, nor would he be a top tier NFL quarterback...hell most people said Eli wasn't even the best QB taken in the 2004 draft.  That would surely be Big Ben Rothlisberger or Philip Rivers, the player the Giants traded to San Diego to get Manning.  While Steeler fans are quite happy with their franchise QB, except for the occasional rape accusation, I can't imagine there are many Chargers fans who still believe they won the blockbuster trade that sent Eli to New York and Rivers, Shawne Merriman (now in Buffalo) and Nate Kaeding (a good kicker who spent all of last season on IR for a torn ACL) to San Diego.  The other big component of this deal is what it didn't include...the Chargers were not going to make the trade unless it involved Osi Umenyiora, a player Giants GM Ernie Accorsi was unwilling to move.   If the Chargers wouldn't have budged, the Giants would have taken Rothlisberger 4th overall.  On behalf of Giants fans everywhere, thank you A.J. Smith for caving and making this trade.

Eli certainly had his share of struggles early on in his career.  He was handed the reigns to the Giants overly complicated offense in week 11 of his rookie season.  He has started every game since.  His first couple of  seasons he led the Giants to the playoffs but lost out in the first round both times.  Eli made many rookie mistakes those years, throwing a ton on interceptions as he and his receivers struggled to get on the same page.  2007 was the year it all came together for him.  He finally had full grasp of the offence and he had big time receivers like Plaxico Burress and Giants veteran Amani Toomer who worked many extra hours with their young QB.  The Giants struggle early and rallied late to win the NFC Wild Card and earn a spot in the playoffs.  They dominated the Bucs, outworked the Cowboys and survived the frigid temps at Lambeau Field to beat the heavily favored Packers in overtime.  The Giants rolled into Super Bowl 42 and beat the 12.5 point favorite New England Patriots who came into the game undefeated.  The G-Men beat the perfect team by playing a perfect game...and Eli was named MVP.  Since then, Eli Manning has been a model of consistency...throwing for more than 4,000 yards and reducing his interception total.

At the start of the 2011 season, a reporter asked Eli if he thought he was the same elite caliber quarterback as Tom Brady.  Eli said he believed he was, and many in the sports world were quick to mock him.  All he did after that was go out and prove himself right.  Although the Giants were killed by injuries all season and had one of the toughest schedules, Eli led the team to a wild card berth by beating the Cowboys twice and the Jets in the last few weeks of the season.  They whooped a talented Falcons team at home, soundly beat the 15-1 Green Bay Packers at Lambeau and outlasted the very tough 49ers in a classic defensive struggle.  This time in Super Bowl 46, many were picking the Giants to win in a shootout but Bill Belichick had a great defensive gameplan and this game came down to the wire.  And again, Eli Manning had the ball with under 5 minutes to play and the game on the line....and again he came through.  He led the Giants down the field and scored a major with just under a minute to go, coming from behind in the 4th quarter to win a game for the 7th time this season.  Again, he was named MVP going 30-40 for 296 and a TD.

Thank you Eli, thank you for putting up with the bullshit New York media and all the pressure from us diehard fans.  Thank you for delivering us a second Super Bowl in 4 years.  Thank you for pulling an Elway and standing up for yourself on draft day.  Thank you for becoming the best quarterback in New York's long and storied history.   Thanks you for handling it all with poise and grace.  Here's to a magical 2011-2012 season and the hope that the Eli can continue to prove himself and lead this team to the promise land again in the future.  To quote Mario Manningham after Super Bowl 46, "Eli's cooler than the cool side of the pillow"...so true.