Can't Spell Elite without ELI!

Last week I listed 7 NFL Quarterbacks in my conversation about Elite level players at the position. Over the past weekend in the NFC Championship Eli Manning led the New York Giants to an overtime victory against the San Fransico 49ers. Therefore, reluctantly, I am forced to include Manning into the conversation of Elite level NFL Quarterbacks. Manning will now be playing in his second Super Bowl with 1 championship win already under his belt. That alone forces me to include him among this prestigous group. In the past Manning has never "wowed" the league with incredible statistics and has always been overshawdoed by his older brother Peyton, however, with Peyton on the sideline all season with a neck injury, Eli made the most of his opportunity to break out of his older brother's shadow.

In 2011 Eli led the Giants to a NFC East Divsion Championship and a playoff appearance. He did this by having a career year; throwing for 4933 yards... over 900 more than any other season. In the past Eli has been critized for throwing too many interceptions at important stages of games. However, in 2011 he made much better decisions, only throwing 16 compared to the 25 he threw in 2010. For his efforts, Manning was named to the Pro Bowl along with Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees (putting him with some pretty elite company). In the playoffs Manning has led the Giants to victories over the Falcons, Packers and 49ers, including road wins in Green Bay and San Francisco. This road to the Superbowl is extremely impressive, especially as the Giants were big Las Vegas under dogs the past 2 weeks. Manning has seemed to have "ice in his veins" making big time throws in big situations. In the Giants win against the 49ers, Manning was faced with an extreme pass rush where he was sacked 6 times and seemingly got beat up throughout the game, however he kept getting up and making plays and the Giants capitalized on a costly fumble in Overtime to win the game.

Manning's skill set has never really impressed me, however his ability to make big plays when they matter has. Below is an example of this as Eli makes a huge play in the dying seconds of Super Bowl XXXXII that lead to the Giants victory.