With several days to reflect on the retirement of his younger brother, NFL legend Peyton Manning sat down with the Denver Broncos media team to discuss Eli Manning’s New York Giants career and what he meant to the NFL as a whole.
Peyton dropped several personal stories that always come with a side of humor, but predominantly, the elder Manning was genuine when reflecting on Eli’s career. And while he would prefer to continue that reflection for at least a few more months, he did address the notion that Eli is not a Hall of Famer.
Speaking as more than just Eli’s brother, Peyton, a future Hall of Famer himself, laughed off the notion that the two-time Super Bowl MVP doesn’t belong in Canton.
“To me, it’s the time to look back and reflect. Everybody else wants to look ahead and have this debate. And I understand, that’s just the world we live in. I know Eli doesn’t think like that, and I don’t think like that either. But I certainly have my strong feelings and opinions on it,” Peyton said. “When you’re the Super Bowl MVP twice against the greatest dynasty of all-time, the New England Patriots, Tom Brady/Bill Belichick, and you join a list that includes Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr, Tom Brady and Joe Montana, Eli Manning as the only (multiple) Super Bowl MVPs.
“I don’t really know what that term, ‘drop the mic’ is, but I guess if there was one. … There really is no ‘yeah, but’ after that. That kind of ends it. But if you want a, ‘yeah, but,’ yeah, but he also started 220-plus consecutive games. He’s sixth or seventh all-time in touchdowns. It wasn’t like he just played those two seasons.
“He answered the bell, played his butt off, won some huge games for his team. I have strong opinions on it, but I’m gonna pull and Eli and live in the present and kinda look back if you will and not look too far ahead, get too worried about it.”
Peyton also said that behind his father, Archie Manning, and Dan Marino, Eli is his favorite football player of all-time. And even more than his own two Super Bowl victories, he says watching Eli take down the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII is his favorite career moment.
“They were the real deal,” Peyton said. “They had it all, and you talk about playing against this monster. You got Tom Brady, Bill Belichick. … They had all these other great players, this supporting cast. He was so in control the whole game, and then, the famous escape play, which, the word unbelievable is overused, but it truly was unbelievable how he got out of there.
“I got to play in four Super Bowls. I got to be on the winning side of two. And I think people don’t really believe me when I say that my favorite Super Bowl memory was watching my little brother take the New York Giants down the field in the two minute drill and beat the undefeated Patriots and all that came with that. Maybe I wasn’t as happy as the ’72 Dolphins … but I was pretty close.
“He did it. There’s that famous Bill Parcells quote after he tells their team: ‘Don’t let anybody ever tell you that you couldn’t do it because you did it.’ He did it, and he did it the right way for a long time.”
Mic officially dropped.
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