Who's the Man------ning

                 Maybe that's a bad title.... you'll live.


            When Eli entered the league in 2005 it was easy to dislike him, with his older brother in the middle of a hall of fame career and his father a retired QB respected around the league, it was almost as if everything was set in place to usher Eli to stardom.  In fact, Eli's first mark in the league was the Manning camp raising a lot of noise about the San Diego Chargers trading that number one pick because they didn't think San Diego was a good place for Eli.  Eventually San Diego drafted Eli anyway and traded him to the Giants for a kings ransom.
         
            Automatically this heightened fans expectation of the young Manning because of the price given to get him, the return should be no less than the production of his older brother Peyton, who dominates the regular season and cruises to a top seed in the playoffs annually.  However it did not really work that way for the younger Manning, though his numbers are decent, he's yet to have the ease in the regular season as well as the explosive record setting performances.  My response to this..... SO WHAT???
           
             If you go back and look at Peyton and the Colts regular season game logs from when they joined the AFC South they run through the south normally undefeated or with a single loss and struggle in games outside their own division against other strong contenders.  Since the division realignment in 2002 the years the Colts have struggled with teams such as the Patriots and San Diego which have kept them to a 9-9 record despite the dominance they have always enjoyed in the regular season.  9-9 for .500 in the playoffs probably doesn't look too bad until you really dissect the numbers.

            First lets look at the fact that the Colts with Peyton Manning have made the playoffs 9 times!  Also the Colts won the Super Bowl after winning a game against a wild card team in the 2006 season meaning that they played and won 4 post-season games that season alone.  In that 2006 season playoffs run he had a very unimpressive QB rating of 63.025 and threw for an exceptional 3 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.  In the very same season in 2006 during the regular season Peyton threw 31 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.  So obviously the Colt's defense stepped up to the plate while Peyton froze in his tracks and peed his pants like a kid at an elementary school recital.
           
            In the meantime the younger Manning who can not seem to get the same amount of respect as his older brother went on to win his own superbowl the very next season.  The Giants also played in Wild Card weekend that year (also playing 4 games), Eli was able to throw 8 touchdowns and ONE interception, and knocked off the 18-0 New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.  In the regular season that year Eli threw for 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.  So one brother steps up to the plate when it's all on the line while the other crumbles under the pressure.

            However, still to this day 5 years later neither brother has managed to win another Super Bowl and Eli still sits in his brother's shadow even though playoff record has become 6-3.  One of those losses coming in his first full season as the full-time starter.  Now it seems Peyton's career may be all but over and when you look at the level of success he's had in 9 trips to the playoffs compared to what his brother has done with his 5 you have to wonder.

           With the way Eli performed so far in the playoffs this season having his way against the Falcons in Atlanta and rolling along knocking off the 15-1 Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field.  Eli is undoubtedly the better of the two in clutch situations, but that begins to raise the question.  Is Eli better?  To many that's a tough one.  For me, it's a no brainer, I'll take Eli.  What do you think?