Who is the Man (ning)?

After the conclusion of the 2011 Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers and two things were certain: The Green Bay Packers were World Champions, and Peyton Manning was, hands down, the better quarterback than his brother, Eli. No one would ever argue such a point as Peyton had won numerous Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, he surpassed statistical numbers that would put him on pace to top any of his previous counterparts before and possibly after, and he had been the most successful regular season quarterback of the last 13 years. No one could argue that Eli was even in his league.

Fast Forward to two days ago when the New York Giants made an impressive, seemingly impossible run from 7-7 Average Joe's, to Super Bowl Heroes. As they hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy over head and celebrated their 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots. One thing became certain, Eli Manning may very well have played his way to a place among the NFL's elite. This coming as he won his second Super Bowl MVP. During this same time the only talk of Peyton was whether or not he will ever play again after missing the entire 2011 season. Then the questions began, who is the better Manning?

Peyton or Eli?

I could not believe as I flipped into sport networks such as ESPN and heard all the talk of how Eli is now better than Peyton. It was just a situation of out of sight, out of mind. A guy who was in the talks of being the greatest quarterback of all-time is now being demoted to second best in his own family? Never before has one game played such a role in the way people see a quarterback and if Eli had lost this conversation would never have even begun. The question is; how much stock can one really put in winning championships? At what point does a career body of work come into play? When do things such as stats or regular season winning percentage play an important role in the way we evaluate?

Eli now has two Super Bowl championships, not to mention being named MVP of those two games. He has overcome adversity in both of those games and produced miracle plays; he has accomplished the unthinkable in his two Super Bowl runs. Now those runs were very impressive, but are two Super Bowl rings really more impressive than a body of work that has spanned 14 years? Is Eli really the better Manning?

No way. Not even close, and that there should be no discussion. How can you compare the things Eli has done to Peyton's? Eli has two pro bowls, compared to Peyton's 11. Eli has three seasons for 4000 yards or more, while Peyton has accomplished that 11 times. Peyton has won the NFL MVP award four times, Eli has never won this award. Peyton Manning has or shares an astonishing 50 NFL regular/playoff season records, Eli has none. Peyton has a career winning percentage of 0.678 compared to Eli (0.580), and Peyton has arguably been surrounded by a much less talented team as evident when the Colts finished 2-14 in his absence. Sure Eli has one more Super Bowl ring, but when a team is down a touchdown in the 4th quarter with 2 minutes remaining most people would pick Peyton Manning to lead their team to victory. You simply can't argue for Eli just because he has had success recently, because his body of work simply doesn't match up. For me to admit Eli is even in the same league as Peyton as a passer I would have to see another Super Bowl championship and a few NFL MVP awards. Until then Eli Manning can't even be mentioned in the same breath as Peyton Manning.