My eyes tell me that Super Bowl wins aren't everything
Comments (...)As soon as the clock hit zero at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday night, the talk already started.
Writers, fans and commentators couldn't stop blabbering about how Sunday's 21-17 Giants victory put New York quarterback Eli Manning into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Then, of course, there were comparisons between Manning and his brother, Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.
First of all, Eli and Peyton aren't even in the same hemisphere when it comes to success a the quarterback position. Sure, Eli has two Super Bowl rings, compared to one for Peyton.
Look, Eli has had a solid career and he had a really good year in 2011.
He's also had a very inconsistent career. Heck, he's led the league in interceptions twice.
Peyton, meanwhile, will go down as one of the best to ever play the quarterback position. His career quarterback rating is 94.9 — over 12 points higher than Eli's.
By the way, Eli has never finished higher than seventh when it comes to single-season passer rating.
Peyton has also won NFL MVP honors four times, where Eli has never really been in the conversation when it comes to the award.
Of course, too many people who follow the game, whether it's as a fan or media member, are short sighted. They look at one thing — Super Bowl wins.
Eli played well on Sunday, outplaying Tom Brady, and he had a good performance when the Giants defeated New England in Super Bowl XLII.
Yet, look at the career playoff passer ratings of both Mannings. Eli's (89.3) is about a point higher than Peyton's. The difference in playoff performances and Super Bowl titles is the fact that Eli has had a defense that can help him win games, where as most years Peyton has never really had a good defense that can bail him out.
Yes, Eli outplayed Brady on Sunday and was named the game's MVP. The Giants' defense also held a very good Patriots offense in check, just as they did in January of 2008. That day at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., New York held the best offense to ever stop on a football field to just 14 points.
However, the defense will never get the credit it deserves. Just imagine if Peyton had a defense that good behind him. We would probably be talking about the Colts as a dynasty.
Valuing quarterbacks based on how many championships needs to stop, and it needs to stop now. There are a ton of mediocre quarterbacks that have brought home the Lombardi Trophy.
Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jim Plunkett, Joe Namath, Doug Williams are players who certainly aren't world beaters, yet still hold Super Bowl rings.
Of course, Namath is in the Hall of Fame. This despite the fact he threw 47 more interceptions than touchdowns in his career. Whichever football writers voted for Namath when he was elected in 1985 deserved to have their voting privileges stripped.
It all comes down to that bad line of thinking — wins equal success.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
There have been a ton of successful quarterbacks that never won a title. Dan Marino is one of the top-five players to ever play the position. He led the league in passing yards five times, and led the NFL in touchdown passes three years in a row (1984-86). But, that isn't enough to some people, who think Eli Manning has had the better career due to the fact he has two rings and Marino never won one.
Jim Kelly, though he had his share of chances, but never won a title. Sure doesn't mean he wasn't elite.
It was his fault that Bills kicker Scott Norwood missed a game-winning field goal attempt in Super Bowl XV, right?
Donovan McNabb is another great quarterback that never won a title. Add Dan Fouts to the list.
There are 53 players on each NFL team's active roster. Eleven starters on each side of the ball. It's a team game.
It's time everyone starts realizing that, instead of putting together Hall of Fame campaigns for the Eli Mannings and Jim Plunketts of the world.
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