Misc. Monday 10-03-11

After Eli Manning won the first game ever played at Jerry-Land, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, he went into the locker room and wrote, "First win in the new stadium." Jerry Jones has since painted over these words on the wall of his $1.2 billion facility, and Manning's career has been reminiscent of a fading brush stroke as well.

Before we go much further with the argument about Manning and how overrated he is, we first need to talk about how much his Super Bowl ring with the Giants weighs in on the issue. It does. It means a lot.

The careers of quarterbacks in the NFL are constantly judged by how many Super Bowl rings they have. First off, a Super Bowl ring and championship is a TEAM award. Sure, the quarterback is important to the championship, but not as important as if he was in the NBA, MLB or NHL, where you have less starters and impact players have more of an impact.

Secondly, if you think the likes of Jeff Hostetler, Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer (all who won NFL championships as a quarterback) are better than Dan Marino and Jim Kelly… well, that's just insane.

The argument that Manning has a championship, which makes him a top 10 quarterback in the NFL, is absurd.

I put Manning in the "above average" category of NFL quarterbacks. There are plenty of teams in the league that would like to have Eli Manning as their quarterback, and having an above average quarterback leading your team in the league is a definite advantage. But the amount of hype that Manning receives for the amount of talent he displays is not warranted.

So that's the argument. At the risk of being boring, here are the numbers to prove the point that Eli Manning is not a top 10 quarterback in the league.

Let us start with interceptions. Since Manning's rookie season in 2004, he is second only to Brett Favre for most interceptions in the NFL since that time. Also, Manning has a staggering 32 multi-interception games. So you know turnover prone QBs like Rex Grossman, John Kitna, Jake Delhomme and Jay Cutler? They don't even come close to Manning in this category. Here is the top in interceptions since 2004:

1. Brett Favre, 127
2. Eli Manning, 113
3. Drew Brees, 101
4. Carson Palmer, 100
5. Matt Hasselbeck, 95

In 2005, Manning was second in the league in interceptions. In 2006, he was tied with Favre for fourth in the league in interceptions. And then finally, like he should be, Manning was tied for first in the league in interceptions. 2008 and 2009 were better, but then just last season, he led the league, you guessed it, in interceptions. And you're right, that's a lot of interceptions.

To sum that up, Manning has played six seasons now and has led the league twice in interceptions and has been in the top five twice. He is good enough to keep the Giants in the race, but he is also the reason they are nothing more than mediocre with all his turnovers.

What about the ever-most important Passer Rating stat that is used to define quarterbacks these days? Passer Rating is calculated using each quarterback's completion percentage, passing yardage, touchdowns and interceptions.

When asked on ESPN's Michael Kay radio show whether he belonged in the same class as Tom Brady, Manning answered, "I consider myself in that class."

Really, Manning? You do? In the last six seasons, Manning's average quarterback rating is 82.2. Here is the year-by-year breakdown.

Eli Manning:
05-06 - 75.9
06-07 - 77.0
07-08 - 73.9
08-09 - 86.4
09-10 - 93.1
10-11 - 85.3
Average - 82.2

What's Tom Bradys rating? Funny you ask! It's 98.08. Soaring way past Manning.
Here is Brady's breakdown.

#1 - Tom Brady
05-06 - 92.3
06-07 - 87.9
07-08 - 117.2
08-09 - 83.9
09-10 - 96.2
10-11 - 111.0
Average - 98.08

Care to know who else has a higher rating than Eli Manning over the last five-six seasons? I'll go ahead and put these in order (with QB Rating breakdown) of how the top 10 quarterbacks in the league should rank, of course, without Manning in the top 10. Brady was #1.

#2 - Peyton Manning
05-06 - 104.1
06-07 - 101.0
07-08 - 98.0
08-09 - 95.0
09-10 - 99.9
10-11 - 91.9
Average - 98.3

#3 - Drew Brees
05-06 - 89.2
06-07 - 96.2
07-08 - 89.4
08-09 - 96.2
09-10 - 109.6
10-11 - 90.9
Average - 95.25

#4 - Phillip Rivers
05-06 - 50.4
06-07 - 92.0
07-08 - 82.4
08-09 - 105.5
09-10 - 104.4
10-11 - 101.8
Average - 89.4 (with a 50.4)

#5 - Aaron Rodgers (5 seasons)
06-07 - 48.2
07-08 - 106.0
08-09 - 93.8
09-10 - 103.2
10-11 - 101.2
Average - 90.5 (with a 48.2)

#6 - Matt Schaub
05-06 - 98.1
06-07 - 71.2
07-08 - 87.2
08-09 - 92.7
09-10 - 98.6
10-11 - 92.0
Average - 89.9

#7 - Ben Roethlisberger
05-06 - 98.6
06-07 - 75.4
07-08 - 104.1
08-09 - 80.1
09-10 - 100.5
10-11 - 97.0
Average - 92.6

#8 - Tony Romo (5 seasons)
06-07 - 95.1
07-08 - 97.4
08-09 - 91.4
09-10 - 97.6
10-11 - 94.9
Average - 95.28

#9 - Michael Vick (5 seasons)
04-05 - 78.1
05-06 - 73.1
06-07 - 75.7
09-10 - 93.8
10-11 - 100.2
Average - 84.2

#10 - Matt Hasselbeck (the most underrated QB in the league)
05-06 - 98.2
06-07 - 76.0
07-08 - 91.4
08-09 - 57.8
09-10 - 75.1
10-11 - 73.2
Average - 78.6

There are a lot of 90s on that list. Manning's 82.2 doesn't earn him a sniff as a top 10 quarterback, especially when you weigh in the turnovers, the fact that he has running abilities and owns a great running game every year playing for the Giants.

And we didn't even mention the other QBs in the league that you would rather have on your team. I rank all these ahead of Manning.

#11 - Matt Ryan
08-09 - 87.7
09-10 - 80.0
10-11 - 91.0
Average - 86.2

#12 - Joe Flacco
08-09 - 80.3
09-10 - 88.9
10-11 - 93.6
Average - 87.6

#13 - Jay Cutler
06-07 - 88.5
07-08 - 88.1
08-09 - 86.0
09-10 - 76.7
10-11 - 86.3
Average - 85.1

All still have a higher Passer Rating, less interceptions over the last three seasons and can move outside the pocket. Oh, and don't look like a high school freshman.

And how about these guys?

Matthew Stafford
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Mark Sanzhez
Cam Newton

All of which may have the edge on Manning now given age, talent and leadership.

Some will argue though, because he won a Super Bowl, Manning is still considered among the top 10. If you remember the Giants during that Super Bowl champion season heading into the playoffs, they were relying on Manning, but wondered if he was going to be their quarterback of the future. They went with him anyway and the Giants defense, running game, and a miraculous play by David Tyree carried the Giants to all those road wins.

Overall, I put Manning at #14, which the numbers clearly show is right where he should be - above average, but definitely not one of the elite quarterbacks in the NFL.

Finally, if Manning wouldn't have been an immature baby when he refused to be drafted by the San Diego Chargers, I may have a little more heart for him. When he shook his head after being drafted, demanding a trade, he summed up his career for me before it even started. Simply over-hyped and overrated.

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