The general consensus among football fans is that Peyton Manning is a much better quarterback than Eli Manning. Prior to the New York Giants’ Super Bowl campaign in 2007, very few people believed Eli would ever be on the same stratosphere as his older brother. Two Super Bowl rings have made the conversation more interesting.
Because of Eli’s success in the postseason, former Giants running back Tiki Barber believes he has surpassed Peyton.
“The expectation was that he was never going to be Peyton,” Barber said while co-hosting The Morning Show on CBS Sports Radio Network Wednesday, via Eye on Football. “I remember having these conversations with people who watched Eli in college, saying, ‘He’s good, but he’s never going to be Peyton, he’s not Peyton.’ Guess what? I think he’s better than Peyton. Because of clutch. What matters in sports? It’s winning and losing. You get to the stage and what do you do? Eli’s gotten there and he’s won.”
Not only that, but Barber believes Eli could get himself into the discussion of the top-five quarterbacks of all time with another championship.
“For Eli to crack the top five of all time, he’s got to have a 2011 [type] season a couple more times and win another Super Bowl and be Super Bowl MVP, and then I think he’s in the discussion for the top five [quarterbacks] of all time,” he said.
Eli is 8-3 in his playoff career and Peyton is 9-11. Aside from the 2007 playoffs with the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton has ultimately struggled in the postseason. He threw a pick-six that lost the Super Bowl for the Colts against the New Orleans Saints in 2010 and threw another interception to seal Denver’s fate in the playoffs last year. Eli has not had as many crucial mistakes in the clutch.
While I personally still feel that Peyton is — and always will be — a much more talented quarterback, Barber has a point. Hardware speaks for itself, and Eli is only 32 and has more of it than his brother. Maybe these latest comments from Tiki will finally give him a chance to reconcile with Coughlin and company.
