Eli Manning delivered a Super Bowl championship four years ago when no one thought he could, and today it is time for him to put his stamp on a special delivery postmarked New York, N.Y.
Manning and the Giants were Road Warriors who rode that Big, Blue magic carpet from Tampa to Dallas to Green Bay to Glendale, Ariz., and Super Bowl XLII, and all the while old Giants Stadium sat dark and silent.
It is time for Manning to show New York, show Giants fans inside MetLife Stadium, how an elite quarterback gets things done in the playoffs.
This has been his adopted hometown for eight seasons now, and it almost is maddening that he has not yet won a single playoff game in front of us.
There was the 23-0 loss to the Panthers in the 2005 playoffs, then the 23-11 loss to the Eagles in 2008. Manning against Carolina: 10-of- 18 for 113 yards and three interceptions. Manning against Philadelphia: 15-of-29 for 169 yards and two INTs. Manning in his two home playoff games: 25-of-47 for 282 yards with zero TDs and five INTs. So Giants fans were subjected to a pair of showings so disgraceful, too many of them were left wondering how their quarterback and how their team could mail it in like that.
The Postman knocked twice and today, against Matt Ryan and the Falcons, Manning knocks a third time. He and the Giants recognize they owe fans who have not gotten to cheer a playoff victory since the 2000 NFC Championship game demolition of the Vikings at Giants Stadium.
“I agree,” guard Chris Snee said. “With the last two performances we put out in the playoffs in front of this home crowd, I think everyone’s starving for a home win.”
Even the greatest Giants quarterbacks have enjoyed only moderate success in the big New York moments. Charlie Conerly was 7-of-10 for 195 yards and two touchdowns in the Giants’ 47-7 1956 NFL Championship game rout of the Bears at Yankee Stadium. He was 10-of-14 for 187 yards and one TD in the Greatest Game Ever Played, the 23-17 overtime loss to John Unitas, Alan Ameche and the Colts at Yankee Stadium in 1958.
A 35-year-old Y.A. Tittle threw for 3,224 yards in 1962 but was 18-of-41 for 197 yards, no TDs and one INT in the 16-7 NFL Championship game loss to the Lombardi Packers at arctic Yankee Stadium. Phil Simms’ signature moment came in Pasadena (22-of-25 for 268 yards and three TDs) when he outclassed John Elway and the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.
In this pass-crazed era, Manning has reeled off three straight 4,000-yard seasons, highlighted by this just-completed 4,933-yard breakout.
Once upon a time it was Tittle-to-Del Shofner. Right now, if you’re looking for titillation, it is Manning-to-Victor Cruz.
“He’s been here before in these situations, he understands what to do in these situations. He understands how to react to certain things that happen,” Cruz said of Manning,” and he understands how to talk to us in the huddle, things may not be going our way. … So it’s definitely beneficial to have a guy like that on our side.”
Here comes that blue charging through the tunnel again, toward the Lombardi Trophy.
“It’s an honor to put this jersey on every week and go out there and perform,” Cruz said.
And here comes Hoboken Eli, a far cry from Broadway Joe in every way except when he has the ball in his hands, feeling the same way — Tom Coughlin’s “Talk Is Cheap Play the Game” quarterback.
The only guarantee Manning makes is he will show up on Sundays and Mondays, always. He wears a mask of nonchalance but a fire burns inside him. He believes in himself and they believe in him.
He has worn out the boobirds, the way Simms did. He never stopped being Easy E. He loves being quarterback of the New York Giants. In seven playoff games, he has completed 58.5 percent of his passes with eight TDs and seven INTs.
Coughlin’s money quote this week for his Giants: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” That was T.S. Eliot.
It was also Eli Manning and the Giants four years ago. It is Eli Manning now more than ever. Put a stamp on elite, in the only place to do it. The only place you ever wanted to do it.