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Former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has always been compared to his older brother Peyton, a 14-time Pro Bowler and five-time NFL MVP.
The siblings are close but did have an ongoing rivalry from early on in their careers. They would face one another three times during their concurrent time in the NFL, with Peyton’s team getting the best of Eli and the Giants in all three games.
In an interview on Mike Tirico’s podcast this week, Eli looked back on the first meeting between the brothers, which took place at Giants Stadium on Sunday Night Football in Week 1 of the 2006 season. Indianapolis aced the Giants, 26-21.
“Peyton, obviously, had proved himself, he already had an MVP, he had been a starter for a long time, one of the best players at the time, and I’m just trying to get a feel for how to get back to the playoffs and winning games and getting things organized,” Eli said. “I was still a young player at the time, so this was a great challenge for the Giants to be going against a team that was always in the playoffs. That’s the way we looked at it.”
Asked who would enjoy showing that games to their kinds the most, Eli had no doubt the winner would revel in the spoils.
“I think Peyton would enjoy it better than I would,” Eli replied. “But I think I could [sit and watch the game] because you remember the game…but you can’t remember the whole outcome. My oldest is nine, she remembers seeing Peyton play, she remembers seeing me play, but never us playing against each other. I think she would enjoy watching that.”
The Mannings would play against each other just two more times in their long careers — a 38-14 Colts win in 2010 and a 41-23 loss to Denver in 2013 after Peyton became a member of the Broncos.
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