Steelers Roethlisberger or Giants Manning: Who Do You Want In The Clutch?
Eli Manning
In eight seasons Manning has accumulated the following stats:
G: 121 Attempts: 3,921 Comp.: 2,291 %: 58.4% Yds: 27,579 Yds/Game: 227.9 TD’s: 185 Int’s: 129
Manning is a gun slinger and pocket passer. His offensive line is built with the intent of keeping him safe and healthy. Manning isn’t as big as Roethlisberger (218 lbs. vs 241 lbs.), but he has a cannon and a very quick release – he is a Manning after all. Manning throws a lot – over 30 times per game (32.1 to be exact). The offense is built as a passing offense. The fate of the team rests on his shoulders week in and week out. It would be ludicrous to think and expect that guys like Bradshaw would be the dudes to carry the load and team to a victory. No no. If Manning struggles, the whole offense does. That’s a ton of pressure placed on one person every week. People complain about Manning being a whiny little dude. His ability is constantly in question – what do you expect living in your brother’s shadow for so long? Guess he can move out of that shadow having won more Super Bowls than brother Peyton after last night.
Manning has won as many Super Bowls as Big Ben. Both were pretty convincing (about his ability, not final score) and landed squarely on his ability to bring his team back from a deficit and beat the New England Patriots. Both come back drives were masterful and were dependent on his arm alone. In both scenarios, Manning had to depend on at least one amazing catch from one of his receivers. The first came with David Tyree and his velcro helmet. The second came last night with Manningham’s absolutely sick sideline grab late in the 4th. In 2008, Manning threw a beautiful floater to Plaxico Burress for the game winning score. This year the whole offense looked on in shock as Bradshaw fell into the endzone while trying to kneel at the one yard line in order to kill more time off the clock – they can’t all be ‘beautiful.’ Manning won the MVP last night with his 30/40 296 yard 1 TD performance. H. Nicks had over 100 yards receiving, but it was Manning who orchestrated solid drive after solid drive when they needed them the most. It will certainly be ranked up there as one of the great performances with that come back drive.
Speaking of come back drives for Manning…. he’s had 20 4th quarter comeback wins in his career (including the SEVEN from this regular season and the one from last night). Oh and by the way, those all came consecutively – just like Roethlisberger when he won the Super Bowl in the 2008 season. So he is now tied with Ben in that regards, which makes this little exercise so interesting.
There’s now no doubt that Eli is a gamer and clutch. His is indeed elite. I admit that I questioned him myself for numerous years. But, ever since his first Super Bowl win against the Pats, he’s been an elite QB to me. How could he not? He’s under the radar for some reason – maybe it’s a New York thing. I’ll tell you one thing, anyone who said that he and Tom Brady had similar performances last night is an ass clown. Brady had that awful interception. Manning had a huge come from behind drive. Brady fell short. Manning won the Super Bowl and named MVP. Brady walked away with nothing. How does that equal ‘similar performances?’ It doesn’t.
I think the pundits and talking heads will have quite the offseason re-shuffling the top QB list during the offseason. I’m sure they’ll get it wrong too. If my two cents mattered (and it doesn’t) I would list them as follows:
1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Eli Manning
4. Ben Roethlisberger
5. Tom Brady
Eli deserves to be up there after his performance last night. Brady has been dried up for quite some time now, even though they finally garnered some playoff wins this year after having none for a bunch of seasons. The magic is over with him. Is he a great QB? Sure. Elite? Maybe a few years ago. Of course every one from CBS to Fox to ESPN will tell me I’m off my rocker (that is if I can understand what they are saying with some Brady twig in their mouth). We can save the Brady debate for another day. I just want to point out that Eli rightfully stands in that top five along with Big Ben. They are both proven winners and are clutch QB’s when it really counts.
So who would you rather have? Well that’s a dumb question (oh yeah I’m the one who asked didn’t I?). I’m a part of Steeler Nation. Of course I would rather have Ben in there. Why? Guess I’m more of a fan of Ben’s style of play over Eli’s. Scrambling outside that pocket gets me out to the the edge of my seat over a pocket passer. Quite frankly, I’ve gotten so used to Ben that if Eli were to wear a Black and Gold uniform one day I would go out of my mind watching him play. So this argument is unsettled (no surprise there), and I’ll let the rest of you out there argue over the interwebs who would be better in the clutch.