Honestly, despite being the world’s biggest Giants fan, this article took me a month to write. Eli Manning, yes, is the best Giants quarterback of all-time. Yes, Eli Manning has given me two of the best moments in my life. But, the second half of his career was terrible regardless of what the numbers may say.
Is Eli Manning a Hall Of Fame QB?
The simple answer to that question is, yes. If anything he’s a special case: a Hall of Famer that fact that was never a top-5 QB at any point in his career.
First off, let’s give some background on ELIte Manning. He is part of one of football’s most famous families, the Mannings. He grew up in Louisiana because his father played for the Saints, eventually following in his father’s footsteps to play collegiately at Ole Miss. Controversially so, he was the first pick in the 2004 NFL Draft to the San Diego Chargers, and his reluctance to play for the team forced a swapping of picks with New York after the Giants selected Phillip Rivers with the fifth overall selection. This move is probably why he is going to the Hall of Fame, as Eli does not get in the Hall without his two Lombardi trophies. As traded athletes—especially on draft day—tend to be linked for the remainder of their careers, Phillip Rivers has ridiculous stats and no Super Bowls. While the NC State product may be able to sneak in off accolades and a 17-year career, I highly doubt if Eli was on the Chargers he would have had the same success. Horrible to say as a Giants fan but certainly a widely held belief amongst football fans.
To be fair, who knows if Phillip would have been able to make the throws the Eli made to win those two season finales—especially as an underdog.
Now that is out the way, let’s get into some credentials…
Eli Manning’s key stat is health: he played in 210 consecutive games, good for second behind Brett Favre’s 297. The streak was snapped because the worst head coach of all-time, Ben McAdoo, decided to bench Eli Manning for Geno Smith.
Due to Eli Manning’s number of games played, his stats are actually pretty good all-time. He is 7th in passing yards behind Phillip Rivers, 7th in passing touchdowns,—soon to be surpassed by Aaron Rodgers, Big Ben, and Matt Ryan—7th in pass completions and 6th in pass attempts. Stats wise, Eli Manning is top-10 all-time.
The one blemish for me is Eli never being a top-5 quarterback during his run. There were always quarterbacks in the league playing better than him at different times; Favre, Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers, Cam Newton, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and more. Eli only made 4 Pro-Bowls during his career, an extremely mark for a QB who is top-10 in nearly every passing statistic. For reference, Andy Dalton has made 3 Pro-Bowls and we all think he stinks.
Eli Manning’s career came down to a couple of major moments.
Disclaimer: There was a period of time when Eli Manning was automatic if he had the ball with under two minutes left to play!
But these moments here serve to show why Eli is a Hall of Famer and someone moderately comparable such as Andy Dalton is not.
Eli Manning had many, many great plays during his career but these four moments solidified his run to become a champion and a Hall of Fame quarterback. Many will argue, is he really worth it? Is it because he is a Manning? Well, the answer is, Eli has the stats and the success to qualify as a Hall of Famer. Eli also beat the best team of all-time when he made that throw to David Tyree. That alone probably should’ve earned him the nod.
The final verdict, in case it wasn’t clear: Eli will be in the Hall!
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