Eli Manning played 16 seasons in the NFL. More often than not, he was bang average, or just below. However, for a few weeks after the 2007 and 2011 NFL seasons, respectively, he turned into the God of Underdogs. He did the unthinkable, leading his rag-tag New York Giants to epic upsets over the Kings of the NFL at the time: the New England Patriots of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. The surly head coach certainly doesn’t love the topic, but he gave Eli his flowers recently.
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On the latest episode of The Coach Show, with Belichick, Matt Patricia, and Michael Lombardi, the trio discussed the merits of a few of the 15 modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Obviously, Eli Manning’s name came up. The Super Bowl losses still frustrated Belichick, but the word he kept coming back to was “respect”.
“He seemed like he always played his best against us and on the biggest stages so I have a ton of respect for Eli Manning and what he did and he was a tough competitor. As much as I wish that we would have beaten him… the fact is he did more than we did on those two days, and I’ve got to give him credit… I have a lot of respect for Eli Manning.”
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Belichick was effusive in his praise of Manning, not just as a player, but as a man as well. Belichick commended him for his ability to always do and say “the right thing” even as the face of the franchise for a team based in the steaming cauldron that is New York.
“Not only the best player but also the face of the franchise. He was always really a model guy in terms of doing the right thing, saying the right thing, and leading his team in tough as well as good situations.”
Patricia, who was the linebackers coach for the Pats in 2007 and in charge of the safeties in 2011 before becoming the defensive coordinator in 2012, also had nothing but nice things to say about Eli during the episode, which just so happened to be released on the QB’s birthday.
“I think he just deserves all the accolades and recognition for taking those Giants teams and the two Super Bowls that he won, unfortunately against us, but he made the plays in those games to win… There’s probably no one worse for us to play against, you can’t leave him off the list. We played against a ton of great quarterbacks, he just really knows how to win.”
That conversation between Eli’s former opponents was really a microcosm of the Eli Manning Hall of Fame debate. Should he get in based on nothing but two other-worldly playoff runs? Playoff runs that served as the closest parables to the Biblical “David and Goliath” story that pro sports have ever seen—not once, but twice, and triumphed?
Does the fact that Manning was the kryptonite for arguably the greatest sports dynasty in history matter to Hall of Fame voters? Or will they be more focused on the fact that while he’s 11th in all-time TD passes (366), he’s also 12th in interceptions (244)? Or that he had as many wins (117) as a starter as losses (117)? Perhaps they will get stuck on the fact that—and this is absolutely true—he didn’t win a playoff game apart from those two fairytale seasons.
For our money, the answer is a resounding yes. The greatest head coach and the greatest QB of all time couldn’t best Eli Manning. And, not to belabor the point here, but he did it twice. Most QBs couldn’t dream of one playoff run like Eli had, much less two. If Bill Belichick can show him the respect he’s due, the Hall of Fame can too.
