ON POINT: The Patriots’ Tom Brady is the more acclaimed quarterback in Sunday’s showdown in Foxborough, but the Giants say they wouldn’t trade Eli Manning for anyone. (Neil Miller)
The Giants are completely unfazed it’s Tom Brady and the Patriots who will be kicking off the Murderers Row stretch of their schedule, mostly because Eli Manning is playing at an even higher level than during his magical playoff run that culminated in Super Bowl XLII.
Manning was the imperfect quarterback who ruined Brady’s perfect season that night, but in the eyes of the 2011 Giants, he has matured into the perfect quarterback. An elite quarterback who can, and has, carried the franchise on his shoulders. An elite quarterback who is clearly in his prime, who doesn’t need David Tyree now as much as he did then.
An elite quarterback they wouldn’t trade for anyone.
Not even Tom Brady.
“To me, he’s going to be the best quarterback on the field, he’s my quarterback, period,” Dave Tollefson said. “And I don’t think anybody here feels any different. Number 10’s the man, he really is.
“Maybe early in his career, it was like, ‘Oh, he has this great mentality for New York.’ Now that’s kind of like a side note, because he’s playing so well.”
Brady (104.4) has the second-best quarterback rating in the NFL, behind Aaron Rodgers (125.7). Manning (102.1) is third, ahead of Drew Brees (100.6). David Diehl was asked yesterday whether Manning is a better quarterback than he was in the Super Bowl.
“I think he is,” Diehl said.
Manning (85.3) was 17th in quarterback rating last year when he threw 25 interceptions in 539 attempts. Brady has thrown eight interceptions in 272 attempts this season. He has thrown 18 touchdown passes to Manning’s 13.
Brady was chasing his fourth Super Bowl ring that night in Glendale, Ariz., nearly four years ago, and still is. Manning is chasing his second. Brady has a celebrity wife. Manning has a celebrity brother and father. Just because Manning will be matching wits with Bill Belichick doesn’t mean he isn’t aware Brady is the opposing quarterback.
“You just know that their offense is high-powered, they have the ability to score a lot of points,” Manning said, “so we go into the game thinking we’ve got to be smart, we’ve got to take care of the ball, you can’t give him a short field, give him more opportunities. We’ve got to try to keep the ball in our hands as long as possible, and when we get opportunities to score, and when we get into the red zone, we’ve got to get touchdowns.”
Manning’s last drive for the ages — Tyree’s Catch 42, the game-winning TD pass to Plaxico Burress — provided him with a profound memory he is relentlessly trying to replicate.
“I think it’s just the fact of being a champion, and winning a championship as a team,” Manning said.
He was asked how many times he has seen his pass to Tyree.
“Well, you see it a number of times, just because for whatever reason it comes up with great plays, and a great play by him,” Manning said, “so I don’t know if there’s a number on it, but it’s always a good play to watch.”
He walks by the image of that forever moment every day inside the Timex Performance Center.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously it was an important play in our success that year,” Manning said, “so that’ll be one of the plays you always remember, David making that catch and that drive to go down and win a championship.”
That was then, this is now.
And now, this is Manning’s team more than it was then. The Giants don’t run the ball as well now, but they can trust Manning to throw it 45 times without an interception. He has the kind of command and control of his offense brother Peyton has had of the Colts offense. His young receivers feel the same comfort level with him that the Patriots receivers feel with Brady.
“I never get flustered,” Victor Cruz said. “I understand that he’s been in these tough spots before, he’s been in these tough situations, and he‘ll pull through.”
Coach Tom Coughlin expects his SuperMann to continue to fly.
“I would say he is controlled,” Coughlin said. “He s obviously very aware of situations and circumstances … the poise and confidence, the accuracy and the knowledge with all the studying that he does, the way that he performs is by knowing the opponent.”
Eli Manning knows the Patriots. And they sure remember him.