Thursday, September 16, 2010

I Love You Peyton But You're Wrong

There’s nothing wrong with a little brotherly love and, if nothing else, it’s heartening to see how much Archie and Olivia Manning’s sons genuinely care about and support eachother. I’m an only child so I can’t imagine how great it must to know that someone other than your parents always has your back.

But there’s a fine line between public support and outright bullshitting and I think this quote from Peyton about younger brother Eli falls into the latter category:

“I think Eli is at the top,” said the Colts quarterback. “I’ve never said that I know it better than anybody else, and sometimes people assume things or give me credit for things that may not necessarily be true. Eli is an experienced NFL quarterback that plays probably in the toughest division in football. He sees tremendously complicated defenses every single week, but always twice a year from Philadelphia, the Redskins and the Cowboys. He’s seen three different [defensive] coordinators on his team the past three years, which every day in practice, he is seeing different looks. He hasn’t missed a start. It’d be hard to find a guy who knows more about defense and is experienced like Eli.”

Does Eli play in a tough division? Sure. Do the Eagles, Redskins and Cowboys usually have good defenses from year to year? I’d say so. Has he had to go against three different defensive coordinators in practice? It’s four, actually (Tim Lewis, Steve Spagnuolo, Bill Sheridan and, now, Perry Fewell), but the general point is made. Does Eli make his starts? Yes, he does. Only Brett Favre (286) and big brother Peyton (193) have made more consecutive starts at the QB position than Eli (88) since the youngest Manning joined the league in 2004.

But does all of this amount to anything? For all of Eli Manning’s supposed toughness, experience and exposure to seemingly trying conditions, what does it all add up to? Statistically, he’s still a below-average QB, with a career 57.1% completion percentage, a meager 1.4/1 TD-to-INT ratio and an abysmal QB Rating of 79.3.

So, while its nice to hear Peyton lavish his little brother with praise, Im afraid Ill simply have to call bullshit on the final implication of all this lovely prose from Peyton. Eli isnt a good QB, no matter how much Peyton says he is.

2 comments:

Gutsy Goldberg said...

I think its BS to call Eli the best QB. But is Eli a "good" QB now? I'd say he is. look at his ratings in 2007 postseason (can't find the link, but i do know he had 2 tds vs. tampa, 2 vs. dallas, 0 vs. GB, and 2tds w/ 1 int vs. new england), and then in 2008 and 2009 he had QB ratings of 86.4 and 93.1.

I know you hate to hear this MJ, but Eli has gotten better. Is he the best? of course not. but you can't say he's "not good".

MJ said...

And in the same season -- his best season as a pro -- where Manning posted his career-high 93.1 QB rating, he also caused 22 turnovers (14 INT/8 FUM).

Pull up the turnover numbers for the "good" QB's in the NFL and then show me how Eli Manning stacks up. A good QB doesn't average 1.4 turnovers per start.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Eli Manning's best statistical season came in the same year that the Giants had the third-worst defense in the NFL last year.