Justin Tuck normally spends his weekends trying to make quarterbacks look overrated. On Saturday, Tuck found himself speaking out in support of one he feels is overlooked.
During an interview at teammate Terrell Thomas's youth football camp, Tuck blasted Eli Manning's 31st ranking on the NFL Network's The Top 100: Players of 2012. The All-Pro defensive end called Manning's ranking "a joke" and continued:
"You win the Super Bowl, you have the season he had, you are automatically top 10. But it's how he did it, as far as the fourth-quarter comebacks, leading a team that really didn't have a super, super star wide receiver at the beginning of the year. He made two guys in Hakeem (Nicks) and Victor (Cruz), he made those guys what they are now. I really feel as though he should have been a lot higher than he was."
Manning has been the subject of high scrutiny ever since entering the league as a first overall draft pick in 2004. After his desire to avoid being drafted by San Diego (owner of the top pick) became public, Manning was instantly viewed as a self-entitled player that felt he was above the draft process.
Though now a two-time Super Bowl champion, Manning found himself struggling to adjust to the pro game as a rookie and would not enjoy consistent success until late 2007. During that time, Ben Rothlisberger enjoyed considerable success in his first year and Phillip Rivers took to the starting role quite well in 2005 after sitting the bench as a rookie.
Rothlisberger had been the Giants backup plan had Eli not been available and his instant success did not help Manning's image. Rivers had landed in San Diego after the Chargers arranged for the Giants to draft him and then trade him for the disgruntled Eli who they had selected against his wishes. In their first head-to-head matchup (only the third start of Rivers's professional career), Manning was outplayed and the Giants lost 45-23.
Manning's supporters feel that the two Super Bowl victories/MVPs aside, his stats are enough to place him higher than 31st on the player rankings. In 2011, Eli fell just 77 yards short of a 5,000 yard season and threw for 29 TDs. He currently holds the record for the most 4th quarter TDs in a season at 16.
But his detractors will point to his subpar 2010 performance that resulted in over 4,000 yards passing but did include an atrocious 25 interceptions. They may also reference the Giants slow start in 2011 that nearly cost them a trip to the playoffs.
During Super Bowl 42, the Giants relied heavily on their defense in order to secure a victory and many feel that the pass rush as a whole truly deserve the MVP that was awarded to Manning. In 2011, Manning continued to enjoy defensive support but the story of the season was the suddenly dangerous Giants passing attack which was strong enough to carry the league's last place rushing game to a Super Bowl victory.
If the rankings are truly based only on the past season, Manning should have finished before Ben Rothlisberger who clocked in at 30th. Rothlisberger finished nearly 1,000 yards shy of Manning's passing mark and was eliminated in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
Perhaps the Top 10 may be steep for Manning, who certainly had help achieving his goals in 2011, but 31 is probably a bit too low.
