Is Manning as good a quarterback as Brady? Of course not. In eight seasons, Manning’s made two Pro Bowls. He’s completed just 58.4 percent of his passes in his career and has an 82.1 passer rating. Twice he’s led the NFL in interceptions, and twice this season he lost to the Redskins. But he is that rare athlete who gets better when the games get bigger. You might even call him the anti-Peyton. The only MVP trophy he has is the one from Super Bowl XLII, which is the one that really matters.

When the Giants defense came up with a turnover and the Giants went ahead 17-16 things looked good. Manning had been excellent in the second half (unlike in the first half). But turnovers continued to plague the Giants and Eli Manning’s near the end of the game was especially annoying. You pick and a 4th and 6 on a QB run and then lose the ball with no bad guys making contact? Pretty weak play from a guy who is supposed to be one of the NFL’s best quarter backs.

Not that this is looking like the Giant’s year anyway, but it seems things could easily get worse…

With Boley and Aaron Ross, but without Pierce, the defense just did not get the job done. Foe me, that’s what sapped the fun from this one.

But he says CC Brown is doing real well: “It sounds like everybody’s giving C.C. Brown a hard time. He’s come in and really done an admirable job for us.”

Perhaps we fans who criticized Brown may need to reconsider since Reese surely knows more than we do. But I guess we can keep citicizing Manning until he picks up his game.

Yet the game wasn’t that close, probably because of the Giants 3 interceptions. Our franchise QB only managed a 47.5 passer rating. Now I’m not saying it’s all on Eli, but come on dude. If you’re a franchise QB taking up a huge chunk of your team’s salary cap you gotta play well every game.

I still appreciate the Super Bowl win, but today’s performance reminded me more of the egg Eli laid against Philly last year in our early exit from the playoffs.

We play Philly next week and it would be nice if Eli contributes something…

But like I said it’s not all on Eli. You’ve got Jacobs averaging almost 6 yards per carry and you only give him the ball 13 times? WTF? And on 3rd and short you go for the bomb? This is becoming pretty predictable actually. Doesn’t it seem like we always throw a hail-mary like pass on 3rd and short?

Manningham hurt with the drops, true. Receivers didn’t get open like they should have, sure. Lots of things went wrong besides Manning but Manning is the one who makes the big bucks, not Manningham. I don’t expect equal contributions from both those guys.

On offense, I predict a big day for the Giants. The Saints have talent on defense to be sure but how much? They haven’t been tested by an elite QB yet. Can Eli Manning beat the Saints?

I think he can but it’s no sure thing so this will be an exciting game today!

Hakeem Nicks got involved and that was great to see. Bradshaw looked all-world. Jacobs ran for a much smaller average – you have to wonder if he’s going to break out and start seeing the results he had last year or what.

Ramses Barden
Danny Ware
Kevin Boss
Adam Koets
Chris Canty
Aaron Ross
Michael Boley
Bryan Kehl

So it seems Hixon will play. That’s cool. And Moss. That’s not so cool unless the guy finally does something to warrant a 2nd round pick.

We might see Clint Sintim in action finally. Maybe a bit of Travis Beckum as well.

Accorsi says Eli will win us more Super Bowls. If he does, I don’t care how much money he makes. I was just happy that this post is still relevant even though I wrote it a while ago. Even 15 million a year can be justified. He needs to play like in the Super Bowl run – not like he did against Philly last season.