In most families, the middle child is the nutty and overlooked one.
It’s not Cindy, the youngest Brady, who pouts, “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!” – it’s the middle one, Jan.
But it’s not so in the Manning family. The middle child in the Manning family is both a Super Bowl champion and MVP quarterback, and he makes the most endorsement money in the NFL. That has overshadowed the exploits of what should be the pampered and spoiled youngest one – Cindy/Eli – and the prized and worshipped oldest one – Marcia/Cooper, who’s been out of football since a serious spine injury finished his promising career at wide receiver.
What I admire most about Eli Manning is how he never had a Jan Brady meltdown in the media under the most undue pressure and criticism heaped upon a budding quarterback. Because, if you track Peyton and Eli’s first three years as full-time starting quarterbacks, the Giants fans’ scowling was horrendously unfair. I spent the 2005 Katrina semester – Eli’s first season as a full-time starter – in Jersey City, N.J., just a few minutes from Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. Three times in one day at the midpoint of the season I heard my house host and two subway passengers mutter the exact same phrase: “His brother he is not.” Three times. Three different people.
But I can now say Eli was actually better than Peyton at that point. In his first season as a full-time starter, he powered them to an 11-5 record and a playoff appearance while throwing 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. Peyton’s first season saw him throw 26 touchdowns and 28 interceptions en-route to a dismal 3-13 record.
Over his next two seasons as a starter, Peyton passed for 59 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in winning 23 games. In each post-season, his Colts lost in the divisional playoffs and in the wild-card round. Meanwhile, over his next two seasons, Eli passed for 48 touchdowns and 38 interceptions, and won 24 games (one pending), never missing the playoffs once and winning a conference championship six seasons quicker than his older brother.
If Eli can somehow clog the most finely tuned football machine ever, all bets are off. Since Peyton’s single-season touchdown record no longer stands, and Eli has a shot at the Brady who now owns it and has outdone his older brother throughout his career, the most successful Manning becomes the overlooked, maligned youngest one.
If Eli doesn’t, Giants fans will have to master that alien virtue of patience and watch Eli keep a pace superior to that of his pops and older bro, two of the sport’s best ever.
