Eli Manning has won two Super Bowls. Peyton Manning has only won one. By the numbers, you could easily make the argument that Peyton is a better quarterback than Eli. Those who know the game of football would likely make this argument, having watched Peyton light up the stat sheet for 13 years prior to last season. Eli’s stats may not stack up, but he is still only 31 years old and has two Lombardi Trophies. Does that make him an overall better quarterback than his older brother?
During a recent interview with Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, Eli was asked what he says when people claim he is a better quarterback than Peyton.
“I correct them very quickly,” he said. “I’ve never tried to compete with Peyton. I never tried to say I need to be better than him. I’ve accepted at times that I wasn’t maybe as good as him because he was the No. 1 high school player in the country. In college, he was going to be the first pick in the draft, so if I tried to go out there and be the same person and be better than him or the same person as him, I’m going to drive myself crazy. I’m going to go out and be the best quarterback I can be and get the most out of my potential. If that’s better than him, great. If it’s not, so be it.”
If both retired today, determining who had the better NFL career would depend on whether you care more about championship hardware or statstics. If we’re talking about passing ability and individual accolades, Peyton is easily one of the greatest of all time. If we’re talking about winning when it counts, Eli gets the nod.
