NOW, Super-Mann tries to do it again.
When last we left Eli Manning, he was Houdini escaping the clutches of desperate Patriots, uncorking a prayer to the heavens that David Tyree miraculously trapped on his helmet, falling backward with Rodney Harrison clutching at the football, not long after that holding the Lombardi Trophy into the New York City sky as he stood on a float rolling up the Canyon of Heroes.
Now, with Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora stripped from the ravenous defense that savaged Tom Brady in Super Bowl XLII, the Giants need Manning to be Super-Mann from the start of the season, tonight against the Redskins, to the end, whenever that may be.
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“We know we can play at a high level, it’s just trying to get back to that, finding that rhythm, finding that tempo,” Manning said.
Everyone looks at him differently now. New York, which was losing faith that he could be a franchise quarterback, looks at him differently. The media looks at him differently. Most importantly, his teammates look at him differently, in this regard – they now know for certain that he can lead them to a championship.
“He’s got the trophy. He’s got the ring. He’s got the MVP. But the thing about Eli is, that’s really not enough for him,” Giants GM Jerry Reese said. “He’s such a driven kid. He doesn’t scream and yell at people, and it looks like he’s not driven, he’s really a driven kid. He wants to be good.”
New York always has worshipped the stars who play their best in the big games. Manning played his best in all the big games – in Tampa, in Dallas, in Green Bay and in the Super Bowl. He comes to the new season a giant in stature.
“They’ve seen him, in the most difficult of circumstances, raise his game, game in and game out down the stretch, when you needed to step up and do some of the things that are required of a team to win. He’s done that,” offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. “So I think he knows he can do it, and I think they all know he can do it.”
Manning always has toiled endlessly at his craft. He always has been the same guy, win or lose. Manning can pooh-pooh any subtle change all he wants. But when you win a championship, when you are the MVP of the Super Bowl, others can see the swagger in you and on you, even if you can’t, or won’t.
“He definitely has an air of confidence about him that maybe wasn’t there all the time last year,” defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka said. “But that’s something that can only help this team, so we appreciate it.”
Kiwanuka has seen it manifest itself in practice and the locker room.
“I just think just the way he talks, the way he says things,” Kiwanuka said. “He was always a leader. He always stepped up when he needed to. But the manner he goes about doing it, there’s no doubt that he’s doing the right thing or saying the right things because it worked.”
Manning has been voted offensive captain by his teammates two years in a row now. That speaks volumes.
“When I look at Eli Manning, I just think of what he’s been through for four years – to being criticized, to people booing him, to everything in the world. A lot of people would have crumbled in that situation,” linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “Eli didn’t crumble. Anything good or bad, he took it on the chin and kept moving forward and did nothing but get better and better and help us win the Super Bowl.”
Sinatra would have been proud: Manning did it his way. Not big brother Peyton’s way, not Phil Simms’ way. His way.
“He’s always gonna be Eli. He’s always gonna be himself, so I like that about him,” Reese said.
What’s not to like about Super-Mann?
“He’s a poker player,” Pierce said.
There’s no Super Bowl in the cards without Super-Mann.