Quarterback rankings: Eli Manning tops list heading into 2012
 

IMO, the ONLY reason Eli is rated this high is because of his two Super Bowl records.

The top 10

1) Eli Manning , New York Giants : A 30-touchdown/4,000-yard passer with two Super Bowls in the past five years. Both won with last-minute drives -- and both over Tom Brady . Give me a better recent résumé. You can't.

4) Drew Brees , New Orleans Saints : If fantasy were reality, Brees would sit atop this list. But it isn't, so he doesn't. Like Brady, too many things outside of his control have kept him from winning more. (Like playing those pesky road playoff games.)

He's just in the top three in my opinion.

The only reason he has 2 SBs in the last 5 years is because of that defense, which Spagnoulo created! :bng:

In all fairness to Eli, he DID come through when the Giants needed him most.

I agree that the Giants defense played a huge part in their Super Bowl wins, but Eli's part cannot be discounted.

Still, purely based on talent alone, he doesn't make my Top 5 QBs in the NFL.

I agree; if Eli was 0-2 in Super Bowls or had never played in one, he would be lucky to be rated as high as Matt Ryan.

Eli's a clutch QB and because he just won his second SB, I'll let ranking him #1 slide for now (it's a gift) ... what's confusing me is how Roethlisberger gets #3 over #4 Brees, (?).

Super Bowls wins, same as Eli.

ELi is still a joke to me. I could care less if he sits on three rings.

I like Eli, and as an Ole Miss fan, I wanted him to do well in the NFL. He has done well, but I don't consider him to be an elite QB. There are 4 currently active, Brees, Brady, Manning and Rogers. In whatever order you choose. After that you have the Very Good QBs, thats Eli, Roethlisberger, Stafford, Rivers, and maybe a couple others I"m leaving out. Stafford could become elite, but the others most likely won't. The 4 four Elites have records and at least one ring. The Very Good don't own many, if any records. So you can win the SB with a VG QB, but the rest of the team has to be on it.

Every team has a supporting cast, but Eli is always surrounded by a strong defense that puts the Giants in position to win games and sometimes championships.

Drew Brees has supporting cast of wide-outs, o-linemen etc, but our defense has been poor at best since the Superbowl season. That's what makes Drew an Elite QB, a whole squad of the team sucks, and Drew can still produce 10 wins.

That's the difference.

Eli is there this year because he won the Super Bowl last year. 2012
Rogers was on top the year after he won the Super Bowl. 2011
Payton manning - 2010
Tom Brady - 2009
Payton Manning - 2008
Tom Brady-2007

It was manning Brady love for a while.

He has more rings then all of the above except Brady(and SB MVP's)...but he beat him twice in the SB...so, I don't see how you can't put him at least in that group...someone who owns Brady at this point?

To put Eli into the elite QB circle just because of rings means you have to also put Roethlisberger in that Elite circle and that is just not something I can do.


The argument that Super Bowl rings defines an elite QB means that Trent Dilfer, Jim McMahon,Brad Johnson, Mark Rypien and Jeff Hostetler > Marino, Kelly, Fouts, Moon, and Tarkenton....


Care to stand by that ?

Stand by what...those are your words, not mine. I am comparing Eli and his accomplishments to those guys listed above him in the post that I quoted. I do believe that he belongs in that group, and not just for SB wins. He carried the team last year when they were banged-up, and has records that point-out his ability to be clutch. When there is 2 minutes left and the game is on the line, I would prefer Eli in that situation to any of the others mentioned. IMO, that makes him elite.

It shouldn't be ignored that Eli has played his entire NFL career under Tom Coughlin, one of the most conservative coaches in the league.

In spite of that, Eli has surpassed 4,000 yards passing the last 3 seasons, with a 62.0 completion percentage. He throws some INT's and loses some fumbles - as does Drew Brees - but he's money in the clutch. If you're ignoring Eli because of his statistics, perhaps you should pay closer attention.

Bingo. If one doesn't consider Eli elite, he's certainly at least on the cusp in my opinion. He's grown a lot over the years and there's definitely a strong case for someone arguing that he has become one.

Agreed, he is certainly the luckiest QB in the league. He's like a lucky Romo.