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November 8, 2007
Eli overrated?
When I first moved here, I remember a couple things hitting me by surprise. Some weren't necessarily job-related, some were. But nothing's gotten me more than this: When the issue of the defense's performance in Week 1 was broached, even now, the idea that the Giants had an elite quarterback was used as a crutch.
Eli Manning? Really? The same guy I'm thinking of? Not Peyton? Eli?
Thing was, coming from the Northeast, the selection of the Giants' No. 10 -- not to be confused with the Colts' No. 18 -- at the top of the '04 draft was already being talked about as a Big Blue blunder. More often than not Eli's first name was followed by a word that was not "Manning," but one that probably shouldn't be used on the blog. Plenty of people thought New York made a huge mistake not holding on to Philip Rivers (although with the season Rivers is having, that may be revised now.)
The truth? Well, let's take a look.
In the season opener, Manning went 28-of-41 (68.3 percent) for 312 yards, four touchdowns and a pick, compiling a 113.1 QB rating. Since? You might want to avert your eyes. Here are the facts:
-- Only once in seven game has he completely more than 60 percent of his passes, and that was against the sorry Falcons.
-- Just twice in those seven games has he thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions, those games being against the Jets and 49ers.
-- In one game since the opener, Manning's thrown for better than 300 yards, against the Falcons.
-- On four occasions since Week 1, Manning's failed to complete more than 55 percent of his passes.
Now, I'll balance this out by saying that Manning has a pretty good completion percentage of 58.2 for the year, his 1,584 yards are fine, and his 13-9 TD-INT ratio is one plenty of quarterbacks wouldn't mind have having. Plus, there's the most important part, and that's that he's been at the controls of a 6-2 team, and the Giants aren't exactly winning despite him. Also, his 23-15 record since 2005 is plenty good.
And any brother comparison must include a couple of other numbers. In his first 47 starts as a pro, Eli's 26-21 and has thrown 53 interceptions. In Peyton's first 47 starts, he was 25-22 with 57 picks.
But staying in the here and now, the Giants offense has, in many ways, taken on the inconsistent personality of its quarterback. Three times, the unit has scored more than 30 points. Three times, it has scored 16 of fewer.
The conclusion? Eli can be very, very good. He can also be unsightly. And while even the best quarterbacks have bumps in the road, the very elite are the ones whose performance doesn't vary wildly from week-to-week. So to call Eli anything but average at this point would probably be a stretch.
Posted by Albert Breer at 10:27 AM (E-mail this entry)
Eli overrated?
When I first moved here, I remember a couple things hitting me by surprise. Some weren't necessarily job-related, some were. But nothing's gotten me more than this: When the issue of the defense's performance in Week 1 was broached, even now, the idea that the Giants had an elite quarterback was used as a crutch.
Eli Manning? Really? The same guy I'm thinking of? Not Peyton? Eli?
Thing was, coming from the Northeast, the selection of the Giants' No. 10 -- not to be confused with the Colts' No. 18 -- at the top of the '04 draft was already being talked about as a Big Blue blunder. More often than not Eli's first name was followed by a word that was not "Manning," but one that probably shouldn't be used on the blog. Plenty of people thought New York made a huge mistake not holding on to Philip Rivers (although with the season Rivers is having, that may be revised now.)
The truth? Well, let's take a look.
In the season opener, Manning went 28-of-41 (68.3 percent) for 312 yards, four touchdowns and a pick, compiling a 113.1 QB rating. Since? You might want to avert your eyes. Here are the facts:
-- Only once in seven game has he completely more than 60 percent of his passes, and that was against the sorry Falcons.
-- Just twice in those seven games has he thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions, those games being against the Jets and 49ers.
-- In one game since the opener, Manning's thrown for better than 300 yards, against the Falcons.
-- On four occasions since Week 1, Manning's failed to complete more than 55 percent of his passes.
Now, I'll balance this out by saying that Manning has a pretty good completion percentage of 58.2 for the year, his 1,584 yards are fine, and his 13-9 TD-INT ratio is one plenty of quarterbacks wouldn't mind have having. Plus, there's the most important part, and that's that he's been at the controls of a 6-2 team, and the Giants aren't exactly winning despite him. Also, his 23-15 record since 2005 is plenty good.
And any brother comparison must include a couple of other numbers. In his first 47 starts as a pro, Eli's 26-21 and has thrown 53 interceptions. In Peyton's first 47 starts, he was 25-22 with 57 picks.
But staying in the here and now, the Giants offense has, in many ways, taken on the inconsistent personality of its quarterback. Three times, the unit has scored more than 30 points. Three times, it has scored 16 of fewer.
The conclusion? Eli can be very, very good. He can also be unsightly. And while even the best quarterbacks have bumps in the road, the very elite are the ones whose performance doesn't vary wildly from week-to-week. So to call Eli anything but average at this point would probably be a stretch.
Posted by Albert Breer at 10:27 AM (E-mail this entry)
