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.
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.
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
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.
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.