If Giants Win Again, Does Eli Eclipse Peyton?

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 11:15 AM PST, Wed, Jan 7, 2009

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Bart Starr, Bob Griese, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Plunkett, Joe Montana, John Elway, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady. Those are the nine quarterbacks who have won more than one Super Bowl. Not all of those guys would make the list of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but all of them are in the Hall of Fame, because winning is what gets remembered at the end of the day.

Eli Manning has a chance to join that group this season. So does Ben Roethlisberger, but we'll save discussion of him for another time because we're concerned with a different ranking system. How would a second title for Eli affect his standing with older brother Peyton?

It seems ridiculous to even ask the question. Peyton's less than two seasons away from 50,000 yards passing, he's fourth all-time in touchdown passes and the Colts have a 117-59 record in his career. Eli is still a relative newcomer, little more than a year removed from serious doubts about his ability to handle the job as a starting quarterback in the NFL. They aren't even close, except for how much a second ring would close those statistical gaps.

The Colts are 7-8 in the playoffs under Peyton. If the Giants win the Super Bowl, Eli will have seven wins in the last two years. In each of those years, Peyton's team has gone out in the first round. That's happened six times in his career, which is why Kerry Byrne of Cold Hard Football Facts told the New York Times that “the chasm in production" between the Colts in the regular and postseason "is so deep and wide that somebody should declare it a national landmark and offer mule rides to the bottom.”

Eli may never throw as many touchdowns as his brother and might not get within 15,000 total career yards but if he wins a second ring so early in his career, there's an argument to be made for the quiet brother who wins over the affable spokesman who falls short more often than not.