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Super Manning: Eli Leads Giants Past Patriots For Super Bowl XLII Crown

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Talk about your sibling rivalries. The one that's been raging inside the Manning household is really going to heat up now because there is no longer anything substantial that Peyton has that Eli doesn't.

A year after his highly heralded older brother won his first Lombardi Trophy and was named Super Bowl MVP, Eli matched him on both counts by leading the New York Giants to a stunning 17-14 upset of the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Eli helped make the Giants champions for the third time in their history and secured the MVP award by driving the Giants 83 yards in 12 plays over the final two minutes and erasing a four-point deficit with a touchdown that came with just 35 seconds left to play.

"I've talked about it with Peyton before; that's the position you want to be in as a quarterback," Eli said. "You don't want to be two or three points down because a field goal will do it for you there. You want to be four points down because you need the touchdown, and that's what we got."

Eli hit Plaxico Burress with a 13-yard pass into the left corner of the end zone to finish off a march in which he completed five of nine throws for 77 yards. His biggest play of the drive, though, was a truly great escape from the clutches of the Patriots' pass rushers that resulted in a 32-yard completion to David Tyree.

At least two players had their hands on Manning's jersey and were in the process of taking him down when he somehow escaped their grasp and scrambled away to complete the throw on a third-and-5 play from his own 44-yard line.

"You've just got to find away to get small in a situation like that and I did it," said Manning, who was given a new Cadillac Escalade for his efforts and will head to Disneyland today to take part in a Super Bowl MVP parade.

"That play alone took a few years off my life," said Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, who was one of several players who suggested Eli came of age in this game.

Long ridiculed for his inconsistent play, Manning proved throughout the playoffs and especially on Sunday that he does have the ability play at a consistently high level.

He completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter, and finished with an 87.3 passer rating that was better than that posted by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (82.5).

And it wasn't just once that he brought New York back from a deficit. Though the Giants took an early lead on a Lawrence Tynes field goal, they trailed 7-3 going into fourth quarter.

Manning brought them back, though, by engineering a six-play, 80-yard drive that started with him throwing a 45-yard pass to tight end Kevin Boss and culminated with him throwing a 5-yard pass to Tyree.

"I don't want to hear it any more; You can't criticize the Super Bowl MVP," said Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce.

"I think Eli proved a lot of his critics wrong today," said Giants wideout Steve Smith.

"He's always being compared to somebody, whether it's Peyton or Tom Brady or Phil Simms," said Giants center Shaun O'Hara. "Today he built himself a platform for other to be compared to him."

Archie Manning, Eli and Peyton's father and a former NFL quarterback himself, said he never envisioned anything like this for his two sons.

"I never thought about them even playing college ball, much less pro football, much less winning Super Bowls and MVP awards," he said. "It wasn't in the plan, so I can't explain it. But it's a special feeling."

Reporter Roy Cummings can be

reached at (813) 259-7979 or

rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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