loved his intensity and the way he elevated his game in the playoffs for the first super bowl. Eli is a close #2, only because it's been more of a rollercoaster!
But ignoring him, it used to always be Fran. And, tbh, I can't recall a single game; I was too young at the time to remember I guess. I recall him running around like a crazy person I guess. I recall thinking that this will turn the team around (it didn't). Oddly, the only real specific I recall (sort f recall and maybe I'm misremembering that too) is not a Giants game. It was a sequence in a pro bowl where he threw a long incomplete fly to Homer Jones that was incomplete and then came back with the very same play and threw a bomb to Bob Hayes for a td
Even liked Snead to Tucker although I agree Randy Johnsom should have played. But Simms would be number 1. A Giants fan durin the era of 66 to 80 was just hoping for a not lousy season, the thought of winning a Super Bowl was a pipe dream.Can t think of signature game for Phil but the signature win for me in that era was win at Philly in the play offs.
While recency bias plays a part, he is a leader, an ironman and the heartbeat of the offense with an unfailing desire to win. Mr. Clutch. Best QB in Giants history. Signature play: SB42, The Catch.
Simms a close second. Not the greatest athlete, but a fiery competitor who also would put everything on the line to earn a team victory. Signature play: 4th and 17 to Bobby Johnson.
I grew up watching Giants in 70's/80's, so it was Â
nice having Simms out there after many years of problems at QB. He had some strong attributes and had a great Superbowl day for sure but he needed that defense/coaching to make it thru.
But Eli is clearly the goods. My favorite performance will always be the NFC title game versus San Fran. He showed as high a level of toughness as I have have seen from him but still was a very sharp QB the whole time.
loved his intensity and the way he elevated his game in the playoffs for the first super bowl. Eli is a close #2, only because it's been more of a rollercoaster!
+1... Heart of a lion that Simms...
Can't and won't debate Eli, one tough customer.
i don't have many choices. Sims was the qb i grew up with so he gets the nostalgia points. But i have seen eli's career completely and no there is no such thing as impossible when he is behind center. those 2 cover 2/3 of my life and the ones in between aren't in the discussion(maybe Hoss since he won)
in that the QB position is the single most important position on the field yet I didn't take notice (mostly due to the perennially al losing squads) or care about the position until Simms came along. Small school, controversial pick to many and having to play under the bright lights of the NY market under BP along with the injuries he had to overcome ...he was my guy. Then along came this skinny kid from Ole Miss ...I've gained so much respect for Eli and how he's handled everything thrown at him from draft day on. Those two balls that he threw in the two SB's under duress will forever be etched in my mind. That and the NFC Championship game in SF, what a tough SOB he is! Eli's got to be itt but not by much.
Simms never had to put the team on his back like Eli did in 2011. And, of course, Eli got it done twice, compared to Simms' once. And I love Eli's durability, despite taking punishment in big games.
...and good old' Kerry needs some love here too. He certainly wasn't one of our all time greats but he had a cannon for an arm and threw one of the best long balls I've ever seen. Lets never forget his dismantling of the Vikings in 2001 and his stats that day. He saved us from the years of mediocrity of Dave Brown, noodle arm Kannell and Kent Graham (who I was convinced at the time would be great for us for whatever reason)
Charlie Conerly, even though I have never seen him play. Â
Why, because I feel he gets no respect, no one ever talks about him, I wore his jersey to the stadium, no comments from anyone. He was our QB for 13 years, many of them great years, lead us to a championship, played in 2 others, won an MVP, should be in the HOF.
Liked him from his rookie year on. After watching crap at QB for so long, it was easy to see that this guy was a cut above. Stuck with him thru the adversity - the injuries and the Scott Brunner nonsense. I never doubted that he was the right guy... and for once I was right.
The one fact many people overlook is that years leading up to Simms, the Giants were bad, I mean really bad for a long time. When Simms came of age, he gave the faithful hope for the future, a reason for "next year". There have been some down years for the Giants since he left but nothing like the 1970's. That fact alone will keep Simms in a very high place in the Giants' fan's heart.
Being a Mets and Rangers fan in and setting them lose in their respective finals has only made me like Eli more.
Winning a title is very difficult even if you have a team that is excellent. Twice Eli Manning (on teams that weren't excellent) turned losses in title games into wins with superb plays.
With eli a close 2nd. Simms tough sob,who won their first SB for them. Played big in big games. He and Lt changed the giants from a losing into a winning team. They willed the Giants into champion.
But I was too young to remember his earlier years and the first SB.
Eli is really the only answer for me and I'd honestly be stunned if that ever changed at any point in my life. He's responsible for the two best moments in my time as a sports fan.
I still feel like he's under-appreciated in a lot of ways. There are a lot of fans of a lot of teams that will never get to see their team accomplish what ours did with Eli.
I still feel like he has another run in him.. just hope the team around him will be good enough before he starts to lose it. But even if the 2 SB's are "all" we get, I suspect it'll be quite a while before anyone ever supplants him as the best QB in NYG history. The way football is trending, who knows how long this league is even going to continue along before it turns into something completely unfamiliar.
Never misses a game.
Never throws a teammate under the bus.
His loyalty to Coughlin.
His charity work.
I am a coach and what we try to instill into my players are all the qualities eli posseses. He's a great player, but he's also a better teammate and person.
Say what you will about Brown....Steve Spurrier once said he was the most talented QB he ever coached while at Duke if you can believe that....but he played his ass off for us under less than ideal circumstances. Couldnt ask for more than that from the kid
so second place goes to Conerly ... I still recall listening over the radio one game against Philly where YA was having a tough time and Conerly came into the game in relief ... I don't know if it was just Marty Glickman's announcing but the comeback he reported still remains with me to this day ... It seemed like it was always 3rd down ... then boom TD pass ... With Marty's excitement ringing loudly ...
Fran Tarkenton. How he could make something out of nothing was unbelievable. Think of Eli breaking free to throw to Tyree, Tarkenton got out of jams like that regularly.
on all my sports teams growing up, but Eli takes the top spot for me. The Super Bowl 42 drive is the obvious highlight, but his 2011 regular season work was incredible, too. The win at Foxboro and his miracle performance that saved the season in Dallas were thrillers. He has a million of them, and some of his best football is still ahead of him.
That pass to Manningham will be forever etched in my mind. I loved Simms, and he's a clear #2 (in my time, there are really only 2 choices anyway), but Eli, aside from so many great moments, has a personality I really like. We're luck to have him.
Really tough question. Loved YA, but Simms and Eli also Â
to Manning and all in between and Eli is my favorite. He combines the best elements of the best of them. He's his own person secure in his own skin and he's a killer when the a game, season, championship is on the line. My favorite Eli performance is 2007 NFC championship in Green Bay, partly because I was there, but mostly because he played brilliantly in incredibly difficult conditions. He still doesn't get enough credit for that game.
I still think Conerly is underrated, Tarkenton overrated, Tittle one of the best pure passers ever and a perfect match for the team, the time, and the city. If championships were played at neutral, warm-weather sites in that era, he would have won a couple, especially '63 against the Bears. And Simms is one of my all-time favorite Giants.
Then there were the others, the tomato cans, has beens, those that never could, Shiner, Wood, Schictle, Dean, Summerell, Golstyn, Pisarcik, Baker,Del Gaizo, Shaw, etc. My least favorite is Craig Morton, who cost so much and gave so little and was just a gutless player.
My favorite game was the Playoff Game in SF. He got the shit kicked out of him. The picture of the grass and dirt in his facemask is the moment I remember most about him.
I can remember Sundays as a child and my father being in pure disgust with him. He was one of the worst QB's ever to start for the Giants. His signature play was the Miricale in the Meadowlands or The Fumble or whatever you want to call it.
Why is he my favorite? If it wasn't for the botched handoff, the Giants wouldn't have fired John McVay and Andy Robustelli and the rest of them. That led to the league stepping in and bringing us George Young which led to Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichek and a championship defense. This change in culture snowballed into Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning and two more Super Bowls. All this from a botched handoff.
Thanks Joe Pisarchik...you're my favorite
Simms, especially for the Super Bowl win over Denver. Â
Also very high regards for Charlie Conerly, particularly for the 1956 Championship season, for Jeff Hostetler for sealing the season and winning Super Bowl XXV over Buffalo, and Eli Manning for winning two Super Bowls.
It's winning that last game of the NFL season that really counts.
I can remember Sundays as a child and my father being in pure disgust with him. He was one of the worst QB's ever to start for the Giants. His signature play was the Miricale in the Meadowlands or The Fumble or whatever you want to call it.
Why is he my favorite? If it wasn't for the botched handoff, the Giants wouldn't have fired John McVay and Andy Robustelli and the rest of them. That led to the league stepping in and bringing us George Young which led to Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichek and a championship defense. This change in culture snowballed into Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning and two more Super Bowls. All this from a botched handoff.
These guys all did the best they could but were over rated by the powers that be and asked to do more than their abilities allowed ... Might as well put Glynn Griffing in that group also ... I don't blame them at all ... Another poster talked about Craig Morton ... now there's someone who cost a lot ... had the skills ... and stunk up the place ...
relief to the dreck that preceded him and he did a lot with a fair amount of scratch around him as WRs...
But after the NFC Championship game in SF, Eli's toughness and resiliency won me over lock, stock, and barrel. I have seen better QBs play than Eli... but no one else even close to Eli in toughness and resiliency. The guy is the definition of the champion that gets knocked down but not out, that never, ever, gives up.
And I have seen a better mre perfect play than Manning to Manningham. Perfect call, perfect throw, perfect catch. That was the art of football at it's best.
I grew up while watching the Giants what I called the dark ages… The 70s.
Didn't see much to get excited about and in his early years Phil Simms was held back by injuries and the strike year. But when he finally got healthy, he began to show his grit and toughness as a leader. In '86 after the Minnesota game when he threw to Bobby Johnson on fourth down and and ultimately we won, the team became a juggernaut and his performance in Super Bowl XXI was magnificent.
Eli however… Is incredible. He is the iceman. He proved it in Super Bowl XLII with the escape to hurl what became the Helmet Catch. And there is no other better evidence of that then the Championship game in 2011, in the rain at Candlestick Park. After getting mauled by that SF defense, with his jersey pulled over one shoulder pad and helmet half off his head the look in his eyes said it all… Cold, focused. As if to say: "I've got this." And...he did.
I started out at the end of Y.A. Tittle's career and really too young to make a good comment there. Then, Fran came along and helped us be competitive. I mean, we had nothing when Tark came aboard and he made us better and competitive. Almost made the playoffs in 1970 only to get blown out by the Rams in the final game of the season.
I liked Phil from the start, not sure why, but before his knees got battered, he could run and he was always tough as nails. But those were different times and we were a run first team. Nonetheless Bill allowed Phil to take chances and outside of Bavaro we really did not have much offensively save the running game. I saw Phil take a lot of punishment from Philly and other teams over those years and he was always there, every Sunday.
Took me a while to like Eli but considering his current games played streak and the terrible offensive lines he has had to deal with recently, Eli has earned my respect. It has to Eli, then Phil, then Fran...in my lifetime anyway.
Between Simms and Eli. Like mentioned above, it had been forever and Simms was a godsend.
While his SB game was one for the ages the Bobby Johnson play was my favorite Simms play. The Mark Ingram play is a close 2nd although that was all Ingram.
For Eli the Mario play is my favorite. So perfect. Under rated play was the pass to Smith after Tyree and before Plax which was also all Smith.
Between Simms and Eli. Like mentioned above, it had been forever and Simms was a godsend.
While his SB game was one for the ages the Bobby Johnson play was my favorite Simms play. The Mark Ingram play is a close 2nd although that was all Ingram.
For Eli the Mario play is my favorite. So perfect. Under rated play was the pass to Smith after Tyree and before Plax which was also all Smith.
Simms #2 due to his coming along after so much disappointment. We had some very good ones and some very bad ones.
I think that Tark went on to a great career after the stint with The Giants taught him how to run for his life.
Simms ... because QB is so much more than being a passer Â
... the QB position has traditionally been the leader of the team ... hell, for years quarterbacks called their own plays ... and Simms had that "something extra" that raised the level of play of the entire team. I still remember his first game. Was something like game 6 or so of his rookie year. Giants were losing and lethargic. Suddenly Simms comes in from the sidelines (I think in the middle of a drive but I'm not sure of that). What I am sure of - is the offense suddenly had jump in their legs. They broke the huddle and ran to the line of scrimmage. It was so clear that they believed in Simms. And that never changed until he hung up his cleats (despite Parcell's stupidity with Brunner).
Simms was tough as nails. An incredible competitor. A great passer (even if he took chances on throws he shouldn't). A team first guy. And a leader on and off the field.
It's taken me time, but Eli has won me over. I've seen every snap Simms and Eli have taken in their professional careers - if push came to shove, I'd choose Simms over Eli - but it would be close.
Giants QB in the Golden Age of Pro Football. No loss has ever hurt like that loss to the Bears in '63, when he got hurt.
Not far behind, Eli. That NFC Championship game in SF (I was fortunate enough to be there) was amazing. (Even the Niners fans, on the crowded bus back to the city - that's all they could talk about, Eli)
Never bitches
Never whines
Never injured
Never throws anyone under the bus
Very coachable
Is an ice cold killer in big games
2 SB wins
2 SB MVPs
Model citizen
Very involved with charities
Except for one a few years back, his teammates adore him
has at least 4 more years in him
Simms second. Like many here, those are the QBs I grew up and watched when I was able to understand football.
Eli has "it". He is not always the best QB on the field, but when the pressure is on, I would not want any other QB in the league. Even in a losing cause, I have never seen him mail it in.
I get choked up every time I think about his performances in big games. GB in the frigid weather, San Fran championship game, both his SB wins. Even losing efforts like NO and Carolina last year. The guy erased the word "can't" from his vocabulary.
BTW I will always smile when I think of him ruining the Cowgirls opening of Jerryworld and signing the locker room wall.
We are indeed lucky to have him and all future Giants' QBs will always be compared to #10. I will always bleed blue, but somehow things don't ever seem like they will feel the same once he is gone.
I started watching in the early 70's. It's hard not to like Simms. The Giants were so bad for so long. Simms won our first Superbowl and was on his way to another before the injury in Buffalo. So would argue that only Hostetler could have won the second playoff run and SB due to his scrambling.
Eli is a fun quarterback to watch in the playoffs. he's been great.
Both are unique in their era and its hard to pick one.
still wear a throwback 11 to every home game. Eli is now right there, and with a 3rd title, damn if he might pass Simms. #3 is Kerry Collins, loved how he was able to give us so much joy after the Simms hangover.
When you think about everything he accomplished despite all the injuries, the fearsome beatings he endured, the lack of receiving talent he had to work with....he had an amazing career. Don't forget that Bill Walsh's first choice among QBs in the 1979 draft wasn't Joe Montana - it was Phil Simms. I know Eli has the numbers, but if you somehow swapped the two of them, I can believe Simms would have equaled or exceeded Eli's accomplishments. The best receivers he ever had was Bavaro for a few years before his knee went and a half season of Mike Sherrard. Eli has thrown to more than a half-dozen receivers better than anyone Phil ever played with - Plax, Toomer, Smith, Nicks, Manningham, Cruz, and Beckham - and in a much more QB-friendly NFL than Phil played in as well.
But I always felt badly for Dave Brown. He was a local guy who grew up dreaming of playing for his beloved Giants, and saw that dream turn into a nightmare. While he may not have ever been a star, he never had a chance between the lousy offensive talent of the mid-90s Giants and a head coach who hated him and saddled him with an archaic, anemic offense. He might have had a decent career in better circumstances.
When you think about everything he accomplished despite all the injuries, the fearsome beatings he endured, the lack of receiving talent he had to work with....he had an amazing career. Don't forget that Bill Walsh's first choice among QBs in the 1979 draft wasn't Joe Montana - it was Phil Simms. I know Eli has the numbers, but if you somehow swapped the two of them, I can believe Simms would have equaled or exceeded Eli's accomplishments. The best receivers he ever had was Bavaro for a few years before his knee went and a half season of Mike Sherrard. Eli has thrown to more than a half-dozen receivers better than anyone Phil ever played with - Plax, Toomer, Smith, Nicks, Manningham, Cruz, and Beckham - and in a much more QB-friendly NFL than Phil played in as well.
Do you think Simms would have succeeded in Gilbride's system?
I'm not sure why he wouldn't have, though. He was a gunslinger too, and he had a stronger arm than Eli, and neither of them quite had pinpoint accuracy. I know everyone thinks Simms is a dummy based on his announcing career, but again, Bill Walsh thought he was smart enough to run the WCO in SF.
The one big advantage I'd give Eli over Simms is his ability to maneuver in pocket when he feels pressure. He's not mobile but he IS adept at sensing pressure and shifting around to buy time. Simms didn't do that - he just hung tough like a statue, which is why he took just a beating throughout his career. Tough as nails, but the way he played exposed him to some massive shots that Eli has shown he can avoid, which is why he's been much more durage than Simms.
just kept standing in the pocket and toot hits holding the ball until the last moment.
Things improved with better OL play late in his career and he became a very good passer -- his Super Bowl completion record is still there -- what a game he played that day.
When I was a boy it was Tarkenton. Then as a young adult and "Phil Who?" Simms arrived he almost immediately became my favorite and that lasted for many years but Eli has surpassed him in my eyes and has become my clear favorite.
Honorable mention goes to Y. A. Tittle who was always my dads favorite and while I have some faint memories of watching him with my dad I was simply much too young to really remember him as player and properly appreciate him because of that.
Grew up with #11 being one of the main reasons a kid from Montana Â
Like I said, Eli's had at least 6 WRs better than any of Simms' receivers. And while, yeah, he had Bavaro, Bavaro was only healthy for three and a half seasons.
Watched or listened to every down LT played as a Giant. He's the greatest football player ever. Not much of a person though. When saying who's the greatest Giant ever, character matters. But that's just me.
2nd. Y. Abraham Tittle
Most fun....Fran T.
Toughest ..Conerly / Eli
Most disappointing....Norm Snead & the statue we got instead of Randy White.
Simms a close second. Not the greatest athlete, but a fiery competitor who also would put everything on the line to earn a team victory. Signature play: 4th and 17 to Bobby Johnson.
But Eli is clearly the goods. My favorite performance will always be the NFC title game versus San Fran. He showed as high a level of toughness as I have have seen from him but still was a very sharp QB the whole time.
Playoff assassin...
+1... Heart of a lion that Simms...
Can't and won't debate Eli, one tough customer.
& that throw to Mario in XLVI. A touch of beauty.
& that throw to Mario in XLVI. A touch of beauty.
+1000
Eli, and it isn't even close.
Simms #1
Eli a very close #2
Winning a title is very difficult even if you have a team that is excellent. Twice Eli Manning (on teams that weren't excellent) turned losses in title games into wins with superb plays.
Simms is a close second for me.
Being I started watching in 1980, that's the extent of my list.
Eli is really the only answer for me and I'd honestly be stunned if that ever changed at any point in my life. He's responsible for the two best moments in my time as a sports fan.
I still feel like he's under-appreciated in a lot of ways. There are a lot of fans of a lot of teams that will never get to see their team accomplish what ours did with Eli.
I still feel like he has another run in him.. just hope the team around him will be good enough before he starts to lose it. But even if the 2 SB's are "all" we get, I suspect it'll be quite a while before anyone ever supplants him as the best QB in NYG history. The way football is trending, who knows how long this league is even going to continue along before it turns into something completely unfamiliar.
#2, Simms....
#3 Y.A.
#4 Tark
Eli was amazing in the 2007 season....
Simms could play against the teams Eli Faced. The beating in the 2011 championship game alone would have put Phil on the sidelines.
Never forget Simms lost his starting job Twice.
Never misses a game.
Never throws a teammate under the bus.
His loyalty to Coughlin.
His charity work.
I am a coach and what we try to instill into my players are all the qualities eli posseses. He's a great player, but he's also a better teammate and person.
Say what you will about Brown....Steve Spurrier once said he was the most talented QB he ever coached while at Duke if you can believe that....but he played his ass off for us under less than ideal circumstances. Couldnt ask for more than that from the kid
Hard to imagine my favorite ever changing.
Paterson Plank Pisarcik #3 (of course)
Tark
Hoss
Most memorable play
Joe Pisarchik
I still think Conerly is underrated, Tarkenton overrated, Tittle one of the best pure passers ever and a perfect match for the team, the time, and the city. If championships were played at neutral, warm-weather sites in that era, he would have won a couple, especially '63 against the Bears. And Simms is one of my all-time favorite Giants.
Then there were the others, the tomato cans, has beens, those that never could, Shiner, Wood, Schictle, Dean, Summerell, Golstyn, Pisarcik, Baker,Del Gaizo, Shaw, etc. My least favorite is Craig Morton, who cost so much and gave so little and was just a gutless player.
Why is he my favorite? If it wasn't for the botched handoff, the Giants wouldn't have fired John McVay and Andy Robustelli and the rest of them. That led to the league stepping in and bringing us George Young which led to Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichek and a championship defense. This change in culture snowballed into Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning and two more Super Bowls. All this from a botched handoff.
Thanks Joe Pisarchik...you're my favorite
It's winning that last game of the NFL season that really counts.
Why is he my favorite? If it wasn't for the botched handoff, the Giants wouldn't have fired John McVay and Andy Robustelli and the rest of them. That led to the league stepping in and bringing us George Young which led to Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Parcells and Bill Belichek and a championship defense. This change in culture snowballed into Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning and two more Super Bowls. All this from a botched handoff.
Thanks Joe Pisarchik...you're my favorite
Can't argue with that logic
Kent Graham
Scott Brunner
Kent Graham
Scott Brunner
These guys all did the best they could but were over rated by the powers that be and asked to do more than their abilities allowed ... Might as well put Glynn Griffing in that group also ... I don't blame them at all ... Another poster talked about Craig Morton ... now there's someone who cost a lot ... had the skills ... and stunk up the place ...
But after the NFC Championship game in SF, Eli's toughness and resiliency won me over lock, stock, and barrel. I have seen better QBs play than Eli... but no one else even close to Eli in toughness and resiliency. The guy is the definition of the champion that gets knocked down but not out, that never, ever, gives up.
And I have seen a better mre perfect play than Manning to Manningham. Perfect call, perfect throw, perfect catch. That was the art of football at it's best.
Didn't see much to get excited about and in his early years Phil Simms was held back by injuries and the strike year. But when he finally got healthy, he began to show his grit and toughness as a leader. In '86 after the Minnesota game when he threw to Bobby Johnson on fourth down and and ultimately we won, the team became a juggernaut and his performance in Super Bowl XXI was magnificent.
Eli however… Is incredible. He is the iceman. He proved it in Super Bowl XLII with the escape to hurl what became the Helmet Catch. And there is no other better evidence of that then the Championship game in 2011, in the rain at Candlestick Park. After getting mauled by that SF defense, with his jersey pulled over one shoulder pad and helmet half off his head the look in his eyes said it all… Cold, focused. As if to say: "I've got this." And...he did.
I liked Phil from the start, not sure why, but before his knees got battered, he could run and he was always tough as nails. But those were different times and we were a run first team. Nonetheless Bill allowed Phil to take chances and outside of Bavaro we really did not have much offensively save the running game. I saw Phil take a lot of punishment from Philly and other teams over those years and he was always there, every Sunday.
Took me a while to like Eli but considering his current games played streak and the terrible offensive lines he has had to deal with recently, Eli has earned my respect. It has to Eli, then Phil, then Fran...in my lifetime anyway.
The two playoff finals - but especially San Francisco really showed a metal and toughness that will trancend the ages.
I loved Phil -- but Eli moved in and completely took over!!!
and of course, the 2011 NFC championship game, incredible performance all while getting pounded all game.
Most other QBs in the league don't keep it together with those beatings.
While his SB game was one for the ages the Bobby Johnson play was my favorite Simms play. The Mark Ingram play is a close 2nd although that was all Ingram.
For Eli the Mario play is my favorite. So perfect. Under rated play was the pass to Smith after Tyree and before Plax which was also all Smith.
While his SB game was one for the ages the Bobby Johnson play was my favorite Simms play. The Mark Ingram play is a close 2nd although that was all Ingram.
For Eli the Mario play is my favorite. So perfect. Under rated play was the pass to Smith after Tyree and before Plax which was also all Smith.
The Ingram play was of course Hostetler..:)
I think that Tark went on to a great career after the stint with The Giants taught him how to run for his life.
Simms was tough as nails. An incredible competitor. A great passer (even if he took chances on throws he shouldn't). A team first guy. And a leader on and off the field.
It's taken me time, but Eli has won me over. I've seen every snap Simms and Eli have taken in their professional careers - if push came to shove, I'd choose Simms over Eli - but it would be close.
Giants QB in the Golden Age of Pro Football. No loss has ever hurt like that loss to the Bears in '63, when he got hurt.
Not far behind, Eli. That NFC Championship game in SF (I was fortunate enough to be there) was amazing. (Even the Niners fans, on the crowded bus back to the city - that's all they could talk about, Eli)
Never whines
Never injured
Never throws anyone under the bus
Very coachable
Is an ice cold killer in big games
2 SB wins
2 SB MVPs
Model citizen
Very involved with charities
Except for one a few years back, his teammates adore him
has at least 4 more years in him
King Solomon would have a problem with you.
Eli has "it". He is not always the best QB on the field, but when the pressure is on, I would not want any other QB in the league. Even in a losing cause, I have never seen him mail it in.
I get choked up every time I think about his performances in big games. GB in the frigid weather, San Fran championship game, both his SB wins. Even losing efforts like NO and Carolina last year. The guy erased the word "can't" from his vocabulary.
BTW I will always smile when I think of him ruining the Cowgirls opening of Jerryworld and signing the locker room wall.
We are indeed lucky to have him and all future Giants' QBs will always be compared to #10. I will always bleed blue, but somehow things don't ever seem like they will feel the same once he is gone.
Eli is a fun quarterback to watch in the playoffs. he's been great.
Both are unique in their era and its hard to pick one.
You know what? I got lots of love for Dave Brown. Eli Manning is my favorite, followed by Phil Simms. But I love me some Dave Brown.
Do you think Simms would have succeeded in Gilbride's system?
The one big advantage I'd give Eli over Simms is his ability to maneuver in pocket when he feels pressure. He's not mobile but he IS adept at sensing pressure and shifting around to buy time. Simms didn't do that - he just hung tough like a statue, which is why he took just a beating throughout his career. Tough as nails, but the way he played exposed him to some massive shots that Eli has shown he can avoid, which is why he's been much more durage than Simms.
Eli is the best to date, but YA brought the longball excitement.
Things improved with better OL play late in his career and he became a very good passer -- his Super Bowl completion record is still there -- what a game he played that day.
Honorable mention goes to Y. A. Tittle who was always my dads favorite and while I have some faint memories of watching him with my dad I was simply much too young to really remember him as player and properly appreciate him because of that.
2. Simms (Though he makes me hate him as a color commentator)
3. Hoss (IT's over for the 3-peat) tough as nails
4. Kerry Collins
Born in '78
But honestly I can't see how it's not unanimously Eli.
And he's not done yet, by any stretch.
2. Simms (Though he makes me hate him as a color commentator)
3. Hoss (IT's over for the 3-peat) tough as nails
4. Kerry Collins
Born in '78
You were a one year old when Simms played his first game as a Giant.
Hey Shuler! You better hope I never get back in there, or I'll kick your fucking ass!
Eli's offenses
Fair?
Watched or listened to every down LT played as a Giant. He's the greatest football player ever. Not much of a person though. When saying who's the greatest Giant ever, character matters. But that's just me.