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  • New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, center, celebrates his team's 21-17 win against the New England Patriots after the Super Bowl Sunday in Indianapolis. Marcio Jose Sanchez

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  • Giants quarterback Eli Manning celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the New York's 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday in Indianapolis. Chris O'Meara

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February 6, 2012

Quarterback cements his Eli(te) status

By Will Willems CNHI News Service

INDIANAPOLIS — Early this season, Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning made headlines for mentioning that he considered himself among the game’s best quarterbacks.

There is no debate anymore. Manning was brilliant in the Giants’ 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots, earning Pete Rozelle Trophy (Super Bowl MVP) for the second time.

“It feels great,” Manning said. “It was a great game with two great teams. We played to the very end. It was just a great effort on both sides. There were some big plays being made.”

Manning finished the game 30-of-40 for 296 yards and a touchdown.

He became just the 11th quarterback to start and win multiple Super Bowls and just the fifth player to win multiple MVP awards (along with Joe Montana, Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw and Tom Brady).

Manning started off the game with 9-straight completions, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz.

The nine straight completions to start a game was a Super Bowl record.

“I thought we had a good plan,” Manning said. “They were playing the safeties back and we did a good job (of taking what was there). The second half they had a whole new plan, they went to the 3-4 and brought more pressure but the guys responded well.”

But it wasn’t the opening of the game that cemented Eli’s legacy. It was the ending.

Trailing by two points with 3:46 to go, Manning and the Giants were 88 yards from the end zone.

Manning quickly found Mario Manningham down the left sideline for a 38-yard gain to move the ball to midfield.

“That was a huge play in the game right there,” Manning said. “To be backed up and get a 40-yard gain, get the ball in the middle of the field so that we could pace ourselves little bit. That was a big-time play right there.”

Manning completed four more passes on the drive to set-up Ahmad Bradshaw for the game-winning touchdown.

It was the eighth time this season that the Giants have come-from-behind in fourth quarter to win a game.

“We’ve had a bunch of (fourth quarter comebacks) this year,” Manning said. “We had been in this situation before. We had little time left we needed to go down and score.  The guys stepped up and made some big plays.”

It was fitting that Eli’s journey to superstardom was cemented in the city where his older brother has dominated the league for years.

The win by the Giants put Eli ahead of his brother with two Super Bowl championships to Peyton’s one.

It was also the second time he beat Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, consider to be this era’s best quarterback, in the big game.

The win also gave him more Super Bowls than Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.

But Eli wasn’t willing to say that this win had moved himself out of Peyton’s shadow and into his own place in the current quarterback hierarchy.

“That is a question that is not meant for the quarterback to answer,” Manning said. “That is a question meant for reporters and media and they can debate that all they want. I just know that we are world champions tonight and that is what I am most proud of.”

But it had to feel good to back up his statement from the end of the year, didn’t it?

“I don’t think that is the story,” he said. “I think that the story is that the New York Giants are world champions. This is about a whole team coming together to win a championship. I am proud of the guys and the way we came together.”

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