The forty-sixth installment of the NFL Super Bowl was no disappointment. The Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots on Feb. 5 was the epitome of how a championship game should be played, which took the full 60 minutes for the game to be decided. The season and the championship hinged on the dramatic final play: a Hail Mary pass from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to the end zone as time ran out. The spectacle was the perfect way for the championship game to play out.
When the pass fell incomplete, the Giants beat the Patriots 21-17. Giants Quarterback Eli Manning snagged his second Lombardi Trophy in five years and denied Brady his unprecedented fourth trophy. With the win, Manning joins an elite fraternity of quarterbacks who have won two Super Bowls. Manning is now the 11th quarterback in history to win at least two championships.But what do all of the Super Bowl championships and wins against one of the game’s greatest coach-quarterback combinations (Brady and Patriot head coach Bill Belicheck) mean for Eli Manning? Manning seems destined for the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. As the younger brother of Peyton Manning, a four-time NFL MVP, Eli emerged out of Peyton’s shadow and has now won more Super Bowls than his brother.
Manning has also become the undeniable leader of the Giants since his amazing upset of the undefeated Tom Brady and the Patriots four years ago in the Arizona desert during Super Bowl XLII.
No, Eli Manning has never been the NFL’s MVP. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin has never been the Coach of the Year. Yet, what the two have done together is nothing short of greatness, and we are only seeing the beginning. The player that Manning has become over the years is one that fans of the Giants should like to see.
Seven fourth-quarter comebacks for Manning this season is an NFL record. He has now become the “Comeback King,” standing resolute in the pocket and firing perfectly accurate passes to his receivers in the tightest of coverages. Manning’s most recent magic, including an “immaculate” catch by Giants wide out Mario Manningham along the sideline in the Super Bowl, will live on with his legacy, right up to the Hall of Fame.
