Sometimes a retiring professional athlete reminds us, directly or indirectly,
that as fans and/or media, too much time gets spent on denigrating a guy
for what he is not as opposed to celebrating their virtues.
Look no further than New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who
announced his retirement from the NFL. There have been questions abound
on “is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer?” While I have no problem if he gets
selected, I am not definitive in my stance on whether I believe he should
receive such an honor.
His older brother, Peyton, retired from the NFL after the 2015 Denver
Broncos won the Super Bowl. The elder Manning is expected to be a first
ballot Hall of Famer because of possessing two Super Bowl rings, is a
five-time MVP and seven-time All Pro. He also holds NFL records for
touchdown passes in a season (55), passing yards in a season (5,477) and
touchdown passes in a game (7).
Eli Manning, like his brother, quarterbacked two Super Bowl championship
teams. Adding to that legacy was both wins coming against the six-time
Super Bowl champion New England Patriots led by Tom Brady. On both
occasions, Manning’s Giants were underdogs. It is also worth noting that
the Giants beat Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers in 2008 and a 13-3 San
Francisco 49er team in road NFC title games. In 2008, the Giants also beat
Tampa Bay and No. 1 seeded Dallas on the road. In 2012, before the
aforementioned wins over San Francisco and New England, the Giants
blasted No. 1 seeded Green Bay, which went 15-1, in the NFC divisional
round 38-13.
The case against Manning, however, is just as strong as the case for him.
While he is a four-time Pro Bowler, the Giants were 117-117 in his starts
and only six of 16 years resulted in a postseason appearance. In the process,
his numbers were good but not great. Cynics will also argue a) David Tyree
making an iconic catch on the game-winning drive and b) The Giants
defensive performance against two extraordinary Patriot offenses. Both
points are valid but with the former, if Manning doesn’t escape the Patriots’
pass rush, Tyree’s catch doesn’t happen. Without the Giants defensive
performance, Manning is not in a position to make such plays.
I believe Manning will be in the Hall of Fame, though not on the first ballot,
because a) The Manning name carries clout. Keep in mind, his father,
Archie Manning, also played in the NFL, b) Scoring two Super Bowl upsets
against NFL royalty and c) He never did anything embarrassing off the
field. Good, bad or indifferent, those things matter to voters.
There are eleven quarterbacks (including Manning) that possess multiple
Super Bowl rings. Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Bob
Griese and Roger Staubach are in the Hall of Fame. Brady and Pittsburgh’s
Ben Roethlisberger have six and two rings respectively. Both are still active
but will get selected. The former will be a first ballot choice. Jim Plunkett,
who quarterbacked the Raiders to two Super Bowl wins is not in the Hall
of Fame.
Like Manning, Plunkett had a star-crossed career. He struggled on two
terrible Patriot and 49er teams before thriving with the Raiders. Because
they played in different eras, their stats are not comparable but within the
framework of their era, their numbers are good but not great numbers.
However, I care more about the eyeball test than stats but I’m definitely
of the mind that if Manning gets a bust in Canton, Ohio, Plunkett should
get one as well. Either both should be there or neither.
The other extreme is Miami Dolphins’ legend Dan Marino. At the time of
his retirement, Marino held more than 40 NFL single season and career
passing records (many of which have since been surpassed), including
career passing attempts (8,358), completions (4,967), passing yards
(61,361), and touchdown passes (420). Marino was inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, inducted into the Pro Football
Hall of Fame in 2005 in his first year of eligibility, and is currently one
of only three former Miami Dolphins to have his jersey number retired.
What I cannot wrap my head around is the fact that Marino gets blasted
at every turn for having great numbers but no Super Bowl rings. Yet,
the same people will turn around and hammer Manning for having two
Super Bowl rings but overall a pretty average performer. It’s as if they
are talking out both sides of their mouth.
The distinction I make is that Marino is an all-time great with five rings
or no rings. Manning is not even on the Hall of Fame radar without
them. I’m not naive, Hall of Fame voters weigh Super Bowl rings quite
heavily but quarterbacks are also only as good as the teams built around
them. The Giants did a terrible job of building a team around Manning
after their 2011 Super Bowl team. New York had just one postseason
appearance since that season. Miami did a terrible job building a team
around Marino for most of his career. Seriously, when did the Dolphins
have a defense or running game of note in his career?
In a nutshell, we have become a society that wants to denigrate weaknesses
more than celebrate strengths. I could think of 8,000 examples but another
one I would give is Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, who is
shattering 3-point shooting records. Curry pundits label him as “well he’s
just a 3-point shooter.” That label is simply not true. He can dribble, pass
and penetrate to the rim as well as anyone. Defensively, he may not be
Gary Payton but he’s not asked to be such a player.
Take sports out of the equation, there will always be strengths and
weaknesses that everyone has in life but that’s OK. None of us are all
things to all people. My skills involve writing, driving a CDL Class B truck,
making pasta sauce and minestrone soup but I can’t play a musical
instrument or rebuild a car engine.
Pro athletes get paid a king’s ransom to play a kids’ game but they are no
less human when it comes to having strengths and weaknesses.
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