What makes a player a Hall of Famer? Is it his stats, his rings (or lack thereof), his accolades, or a combination of all three? These are the questions voters will ponder over the next five years before Eli Manning is eligible for the Football Hall of Fame, and it will be debated by fans and analysts alike until then.
Manning, set to announce his retirment Friday, owns a resume that is solid on its surface. He owns decent — albeit not gaudy — numbers, having won exactly 50 percent of his games. He went to four Pro Bowls and won two Super Bowls in his 16-year career witht he Giants. Some will say that’s enough to make the Hall. Others will laugh at that notion and compare him to contemporaries like Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre and his brother, Peyton – all of whom are no-brainer Hall of Famers and were far better quarterbacks.
As the Manning Hall of Fame debate moves forward, here’s something to consider: his legacy is eerily similar to Jets legend Joe Namath’s, who is already enshrined in Canton.
Namath finished his career with fewer than 30,000 passing yards, a sub-.500 record, a 50.1 percent completion percentage and only 173 career touchdown passes. He ranks 64th in all-time passing yards, 178th in all-time completion percentage and 65th in passing touchdowns.
Namath didn’t put up Hall of Fame numbers during his 12-year career. A lot of that can be attributed to his era and playing part of his career in the AFL, but other Hall of Fame quarterbacks from that era like Frank Tarkenton and Bob Griese finished with better stats after the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Tarkenton, Griese and other inductees like Johnny Unitas, Sonny Jurgensen, and Len Dawson all finished their careers with better stats than Namath. Only Griese had more titles, though.
Manning currently sits seventh all-time in career passing yards (57,023) and passing touchdowns (366). Obviously, Manning played when quarterbacks threw significantly more than they did during Namath’s time, but outside of his two Super Bowl MVPs, he doesn’t have many personal accolades and his numbers lack when compared to his era’s elite. Namath, meanwhile, won back-to-back AFL Player of the Year awards from 1968-69.
This where one of the unwritten prerequisites of the Hall of Fame applies to Manning and Namath: Does Player X help tell the history of the sport?
For Namath, the answer is obviously yes. His grandiose Super Bowl guarantee combined with the Jets’ upset win over the NFL’s Baltimore Colts catapulted him to stardom. His celebrity status created an aura of intrigue and he played a crucial role in legitimizing the smaller AFL before its eventual merger with the NFL. He will forever be a part of NFL and Jets lore.
The same applies to Manning, at the very least least when it comes to telling the story of the organization he played for.
Much like Namath, Manning’s road to both his Super Bowl wins are the biggest reasons for his potential enshrinement. Neither the 2007 Giants nor the 2011 squad was behemoths of the NFC. Both played on Wild Card weekend, clawed their way to the Super Bowl as underdogs and, thanks to Manning, found ways to beat dynastic Patriots teams. Manning’s late-game scramble and the subsequent helmet catch by David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII will be remembered as one of the most amazing plays in Super Bowl history, and the game-winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress later in the drive ended the Patriots’ quest for 16-0. Four years later, Manning once again orchestrated a Giants comeback over the Patriots, this time with an 88-yard touchdown drive with less than four minutes to play.
Manning wasn’t otherworldly for his entire career, but he shined when the brightest lights were on him. He may not have the stats or the awards or even the skill that make him a slam-dunk candidate but he played consistently well enough and dominated in the moments that mattered most. That’s enough to earn a gold jacket. If that means he isn’t a first-ballot, so be it. Namath wasn’t enshrined until eight years after he retired.
Manning will partly be remembered for his meme-able face, quiet demeanor and mind-boggling interceptions, but the two rings he earned will always top the list.
Because of that, Manning will wind up in the Hall of Fame just like Namath. It’s just a matter of when.