The Eli Manning era as the starting quarterback for the New York Giants has officially come to an end with the impressive performance of highly-touted first-round draft pick Daniel Jones. Now, the conversation centers on Manning’s expected candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And this debate should become hot and heavy before it concludes.
The conversation begins and ends with the notion that Manning cannot be a Hall of Famer if he’s never been considered one of the best players of his era. He isn’t in the class of Tom Brady, Joe Montana or his brother, Peyton Manning. Nor are Manning’s skills in comparison to Steve Young, Dan Marino or John Elway. But if he earns a ticket to Canton, the convincing argument could be that he’s this era’s Joe Namath.
Both Manning and Namath played in the right city at the right time in their careers. New York City still holds claim to being “the media capital of the universe” and too often, the press over-hypes athletes for being great in the moment than over a career. Namath’s enshrinement to Canton is based solely on his Super Bowl III victory that changed the landscape of pro football forever.
Eli Manning Hall of Fame Enshrinement Based on Comparison to Joe Namath
Who is Joe Namath?
For those football fans under the age of 50 years old who only know of Namath from his drunken sideline interview with ESPN reporter Suzy Kolber in 2003, you may be shocked to learn that he was a charismatic quarterback with exceptional arm strength for his era. No question, this attribute made the New York Jets offense a legitimate threat to score anywhere on the field.
Namath’s swash-buckling demeanor allowed him to gamble more on converting big pass plays rather than taking a conservative approach of systematically going downfield in a precision passing attack. But, with the good came the bad in the terms of throwing interceptions that broke momentum in games for the Jets.
Statistically, Namath threw for 27,663 yards, 173 touchdowns and 222 interceptions and completed 50.1 percent of his passes in 13 seasons. His mobility in the pocket was limited due to a severe knee injury that was sustained during Namath’s senior season at Alabama. However, it didn’t hurt his bank account as Namath was the first collegiate star to sign with the upstart AFL. His contract signing gave the league instant credibility against its competitor, the NFL.
Namath’s Impact in The NFL
Namath’s claim-to-fame was a poolside guarantee to beat Don Shula’s heavily-favored Baltimore Colts days before Super Bowl III. It gained Namath immediate cult status in New York that still holds true today. His critics feel Namath’s overall professional career never equaled that one performance. However, his Super Bowl victory did expedite the NFL-AFL merger much quicker than anticipated.
The downfall of Namath’s NFL career was him becoming more preoccupied with living out his playboy persona that allowed to become a hot commodity in Hollywood. Rarely did Namath get called out for his reckless behavior by the press. In fact, it solidified Namath’s place as a media darling of the 70s.
Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame Credentials
One of the great debates in the NFL universe is arguing for or against Manning’s Hall-of-Fame credentials. Rarely do you find someone in the middle as both sides have talked until they’re blue in the face in gaining support.
The pros to the debate offer his statistical numbers as Manning has thrown 56,537 yards, 60.3 completion percentage, 365 touchdowns, and 241 interceptions. This places him seventh in career passing yards and eighth in thrown touchdown passes. Let’s not forget that the rules of today’s NFL benefits quarterbacks greatly as the passing numbers are off-the-charts each Sunday. Still, this type of production alone might get Manning elected into HOF.
The other side of the argument relies heavily on a person’s eye test. They will ask you after witnessing a Giants game in-person, did you come away believing Manning was one of the better players at his position? In fact, he never led the league in passing yards but did lead in interceptions thrown for a season three times in his career. The bottom line is that Manning is a good, but not great quarterback.
The counter to this argument is how Manning elevated his game in the playoffs (8-4 including two Super Bowl victories over the New England Patriots), which is often the criteria for being considered a transcendent player and likely Hall of Fame candidate. Still, few will allow Manning to hang his hat on those two Super Bowl runs because the remainder of his career doesn’t warrant immediate entrance to Canton.
Does a Super Bowl Victory Warrant Hall of Fame Enshrinement?
The criteria for quarterbacks to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame has changed from their overall statistical numbers to whether or not they won a Super Bowl. Based on the current standards, Manning passes the litmus test.
Even though his career numbers don’t stack up with other Hall of Fame quarterbacks, none of those elected have two Super Bowl wins over the NFL’s greatest dynasty on their resume. And furthermore, Manning’s path to his first Super Bowl was far more difficult than anyone else’s. He was a road underdog in each playoff game before punching his ticket to face the unbeaten Patriots. Plus, Manning is one of only five players to win multiple Super (Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady) Bowl MVPs.
However, the opposing side will counter that Manning’s performance in both Super Bowl wins was overshadowed by the dominant play of the Giants defense. It was the pass rush generated by the defensive (Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora) line that kept Brady in-check for both wins.
Still, HOF voters should not forget the subpar play by the Giants of late. Since Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012, Manning’s record is 47-66 as the Giants have suffered through six losing campaigns in the last seven seasons. It will be interesting to see if the committee will resort to “what have you done for me lately” when deciding if Manning is deserving of a yellow jacket.
In the end, you may have to split Manning’s career into two halves as he was quite successful at the start but struggled mightily to stay relevant when his quarterbacking skills deteriorated at the end. Manning will never be confused with a high-completion passer in the regular season, but he did become deadly accurate in big postseason games.
I guess Manning’s time in New York might be best described as being too inconsistent for a two-time Super Bowl champ.
