Bear with me as it may seem odd that I'm a Sox/Giants fan (happens in CT), but hear me out.
While I followed all this MVP stuff a lot when I was a kid, as i get older I find that I couldn't give two sh*ts about individual awards or HOF inductions. It was dumb that Pedro got robbed of his MVP, but I didn't really care much. And I don't really care either way if Eli Manning makes it to the HOF.
But I do think I need to stick up for the guy after all the crap that gets dumped on him.
I'll grant you that Eli has been a pedestrian regular season QB more often than not, but no one can minimize what he did in 2007 and 2011. Those were great runs that he was a huge part of. And this was the part of his career where he was clutch in the regular season as well. In 2011 he had the 2nd best QB rating in the 4th Quarter, throwing for 15 TD's, which at the time was an NFL record until Russell Wilson topped it 2 years ago.
In 2007, he had a run that is impossible to beat - defeating the 1 and 2 seeds on the road and then beating an undefeated team in the Super Bowl. Throughout that playoff run, he put up better QB ratings in each game than his counterparts Garcia, Romo, Favre and Brady...all while being sacked more times (9) then they were (8)...which leads me to my next point...
When did the 2007 Giants defense morph into the 1985 Bears in people's minds?
In 2007 the Patriots defense was just as good - they forced more turnovers than the NYG (31 to 25) and gave up fewer yards per game (3rd fewest compared to NYG 6th). The Giants and Patriots were ranked 1 and 2 respectively in sacks and 2/3 respectively in QB hits. Considering the defenses were fairly similar I could make the argument that Eli had a tougher task than Brady in the Super Bowl seeing that he was facing a very good defense AND Belichick. And yet a constant drumbeat from the Eli haters is that Tom Brady was the only one to face a top defense in that game.
Manning's numbers in the 4th quarter of the 2007 game were 9-14, 152 yards and 2 TD's and he led the team 85 yards down the field in the final 3 minutes. That' s why he earned the MVP. It wasn't just a "hey lets give it to the QB of the winning team".
In 2011 he beats a respectable 10-6 Atlanta team at home, but then has to go on the road to beat the 15-1 Packers (1 seed) and the 13-3 49ers (2 seed) before beating the 13-3 Patriots again in the SB. Again during the run he puts up better QB ratings than Ryan, Rodgers, and Brady along the way. While facing a great SF defense, he got sacked, knocked down or hit 36 times (6 sacks) and yet still managed to throw for 316 yards with 2 TD's and 0 interceptions. To me, this was as much where he got my respect as either of the 2 SB wins. The balls he showed to hang in there and make passes while getting slammed all over the field by that SF defense was amazing. I recall at least 2 or 3 times the helmet almost getting knocked off his head on a hit, with the chinstrap barely keeping it on.
And again in the 2011 SB he engineers a 90 yard drive in the final minutes of the SB. led by one of the greatest throws/catches in the history of the sport. 30 for 40, nearly 300 yards. Another well-earned SB MVP.
Two years ago in his only playoff game vs. Green Bay he would have started 13 for 13 if not for four drops by the Yacht boys - Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepard - with two of those drops happening in the end zone. Instead of the GIants being up by 10-14 points, Rodgers spins some magic in the final seconds of the half and the Giants are losing only to get steamrolled in the second half.
And I haven't even discussed the fact that for much of his career (certainly the 2nd half of his career) he's had an average to below average offensive line to work with - if that. The last 6 years have been a debacle with Jerry Reese ultimately getting fired because of his derelict of duty in getting any OL talent worth a damn. Hell last year they lose their center in week 2 or 3 and Gettleman has to cut the entire right side of the line by the half-way point because they're so horrible. Not that Pro Bowl nominations are the end-all-be-all but I don't believe the Giants have had an OL make the pro bowl since O'Hara in 2010. And the Giants sure as hell haven't had a Belechick/Scarnecchia combo that can turn any 5 random guys from so and so college into a well-oiled macine every year.
Anyway, figured I'd actually be the guy that stands up for Eli Manning and give a toast to his career. Carry on.