Eli Manning memories: On eve of Hall of Fame announcement, BBV writers share their favorites

We find out on Thursday night whether or not legendary former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will be a first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Manning, the two-time Super Bowl MVP, is one of 15 finalists. The five members of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be announced Thursday night, Feb. 6 during ‘NFL Honors.’

In the meantime, rather than asking our staff to discuss Manning’s Hall of Fame worthiness, I thought it would be fun to ask for favorite memories/recollections/thoughts in regards to Manning’s 16-year career.

So, below are some of those.

A couple of deep cuts

Not the helmet catch – Eli did a great job avoiding the sack, but it was only third down, it was an unnecessary risk, and he was lucky not to be intercepted. Not Manning-to-Manningham – that was arguably the greatest pass in Super Bowl history, but it only got them to midfield. My three are more idiosyncratic:

• The game-winning back-pedaling TD pass to Amani Toomer in 2005 against Denver. Eli was mostly terrible when he took over as starter midway through 2004, and he hadn’t yet done much in 2005 even though the Giants were 3-2. That last minute win against a 5-1 Broncos team that would go 13-3 was the first time I felt that he might be “the guy.”
• The game-winning fourth-and-1 66-yard TD to OBJ in 2016 against Baltimore. The Ravens had embarrassed Eli as a rookie; this was payback. Beckham had 2 TDs and 222 yards that day, but that play was a thing of beauty – a standard slant-flat that caused a rub between the safety and cornerback, but Eli threw as soon as OBJ made his cut, anticipating he’d be open, and he was gone. Greg Gumbel’s spare call (“Manning on the slant…Beckham!… Beckham!…touchdown!”) was perfect.
• The 2011 NFC Championship Game in San Francisco. It wasn’t Eli’s best day stat-wise, but he took an absolute beating (7 sacks, 7 QB hits) from the 49ers’ pass rush all game and heroically hung in there. The image of him getting up after one hit, sod on his helmet and pads sticking out of his jersey as he called for a time-out, is the enduring symbol of that game and perhaps of his career.

— Tony DelGenio

A single image says it all

How do you pick a single moment or memory out of a 16-year career?

When I think of Easy E, one image always comes to mind first:

The closing minute of the 2011 NFC Championship, Eli gets absolutely drilled… planted… buried by Aldon Smith after just getting the ball to Amahd Bradshaw. It was more hit in a game full of brutal hits that would have tested the fortitude of anyone.

Yet Eli gets up, a piece of the muddy field stuck in his facemask and his chinstrap up around his nose. Yet, unflappable as always, Eli gets up and calls a timeout before even getting his helmet on straight.

And to me, that’s Eli. Tough, unflappable, smart, and impervious to pressure.

Eli probably should have gotten the League MVP that year, in addition to the Super Bowl MVP. But really, it was his play in the two NFC Championship games — in the cold of Green Bay and the mud in San Francisco — that define him as a quarterback to me.

Eli wasn’t the BEST quarterback of his generation, but I also can’t imagine any other making the plays he did in those circumstances.

— Chris Pflum

Low-key favorites

The two Super Bowls speak for themselves; I’m forever grateful to Eli Manning for delivering those moments and the 2011 NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. Eli Manning was my favorite athlete as a kid. I grew up watching him play. I was in middle school when the Giants drafted him. I experienced the initial turbulence of his career as I entered my teenage years, which was the inception of my curious fervor for the sport. I was always a fan, but I started yearning to learn before Manning’s first Super Bowl.

One of my favorite Eli Manning memories is from 2005. It was his second season, and his play started showing signs of promise relative to his troublesome rookie season. Week 7 against the Denver Broncos with the Giants at 3-2, down 23-17 with an impending two-minute drill. Manning led the Giants down the field on a 15-play, 83-yard drive that was concluded with a five-yard touchdown pass to Amani Toomer and a Giants 24-17 win. This was the moment when many Giants fans said, “We found our guy.”

Another low-key obscure favorite moment came during the 2007 run against the Miami Dolphins in London, England. This was the first — of what would turn into many — international games for the NFL: the New York Football Giants against the one and only Cleo Lemon led Miami Dolphins. Manning threw for a total of 58 yards in the deluge that was Wembley Stadium, but he did have a hilarious touchdown run that I’m sure he laughs about to this day. An 18-yard touchdown run from Eli Manning — how about that?

One more for good measure: let’s go back to 2006 in Week 2 against Philadelphia. New York was down 23-7 in the beginning of the third quarter. All seemed lost as Donovan McNabb tore through the Giants. However, Manning got hot in the second half. He needed the game with 371 yards and three touchdowns. It was enough to force overtime, where he threw his third and final touchdown on third-and-eleven to Plaxico Burress from the Philadelphia 31-yard line.

There are so many moments to cherish with Eli Manning. The nostalgia is specifically strong due to the Giants’ inability to get out of their own way. Still, Manning had an immeasurable impact on the Giants’ lasting legacy.

— Nick Falato

Shocking the world

I’m writing this on Monday, Feb. 3, and as it happens, today is the 17th anniversary of Super Bowl XLII, where Eli Manning and the Giants shocked the football world and denied Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the mighty Patriots what would have been just the second perfect season in NFL history.

There’s a lot I could say about Eli’s performance in that game, but I want to go back two more weeks, to January 20, 2008, and the NFC Championship against the Packers. The 10-6 Giants were a Wild Card entrant that season, so they were looking to win a third straight road game to get to the Super Bowl. What faced them was daunting: A dominant (especially at home) 13-3 Green Bay squad led by three-time NFL MVP Brett Favre, and an evening game-time temperature of one degree Fahrenheit, with a wind-chill well below zero. It was the second coldest game ever at Lambeau Field.

Eli didn’t have gaudy stats, but the southern boy who grew up in New Orleans and played his college ball at Ole Miss braved the bitter cold, threw for 251 yards, and most importantly didn’t turn the ball over despite the frigid temperatures. He led his team to a thrilling 23-20 OT victory in the brutal cold, and a chance to take down the mighty Patriots. I will never forget that gutty performance, which capped an improbable run to the Super Bowl. Favre is in the Hall of Fame and Brady will get in on the first ballot, as soon as he is eligible. Big Blue, led by Eli, took them down in consecutive games.

On a lighter note, a few years later Dunkin’ Donuts was running some sort of promotion with Eli. My wife (a huge Giants fan) managed to secure and bring home a full-size cardboard cutout of Eli (in it, he was holding a coffee cup and a football) from our local Dunkin’ after the promotion ended. She kept putting it in different places in our house to startle our kids, including hiding it in their shower, behind the closed curtain. It was nice having Eli around our house for a few weeks.

— David Hartman

Ironman Eli

Eli Manning’s time with the Giants was defined by high-stakes drama, unforgettable comebacks, and clutch moments that cemented his legacy as one of the NFL’s most respected quarterbacks. While his two Super Bowl victories are the cornerstone, many other games helped shape his career and reputation.

One of my favorite memories came in 2012 against the Washington Redskins. With Robert Griffin III leading a late-game charge, Eli responded with a 337-yard performance, including a game-winning 80-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz, proving yet again that he could deliver in the clutch.

In the 2011 Wild Card Round against the Atlanta Falcons, Eli was unstoppable, throwing for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns. His 72-yard pass to Hakeem Nicks and a crucial 27-yard touchdown to Mario Manningham helped seal the 24-2 victory, making MetLife Stadium roar like never before.

Another standout moment came in 2011 against the New England Patriots, when Eli drove the Giants down the field in the final moments, capping it with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ballard. The 24-20 win cemented Eli as one of the leagues top quarterbacks at the time while providing another big time win against the Patriots.

Then there was the 2011 NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers. Despite taking six sacks, Eli led the Giants to a 20-17 overtime victory, setting a postseason franchise record with 58 passing attempts and 32 completions. His toughness and poise shone through in one of the hardest-fought games of his career.

Of course, Eli’s career is most remembered for his two Super Bowl wins, with the first being a 17-14 upset over the undefeated Patriots, highlighted by David Tyree’s Helmet Catch and Eli’s perfect throw to Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown. Four years later, he did it again, leading the Giants to a 21-17 win with a pinpoint throw to Mario Manningham in Super Bowl XLVI.

Eli’s career was filled with ups and downs, but his clutch performances and two Super Bowl MVPs have solidified his place as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. With his time on the field behind him, he’s earned a spot as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, where he’ll join his brother in Canton.

— Sam Kirk

Only a Giant

There are images that endure when I think of Eli Manning.

The first is his rookie season, beating the Dallas Cowboys for the first time in the last game of the season. He drove the team 66 yards that finished with a Tiki Barber three yard game-winning touchdown with 11 seconds remaining. Besides beating an arch rival, tt was the moment that Giants fans and season ticket holders like myself believed that we had a franchise quarterback that could take us to a Super Bowl.

To me, the game that epitomized his career is the 2011 NFC Championship Game in San Francisco. Manning led the New York Giants to a 20-17 overtime victory over the 49ers on a cold, wet night in which Manning threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns, setting franchise postseason records with 58 passing attempts and 32 completions. But not many fans will not cite those stats from that day—what is remembered is the beating that Manning took as he was sacked six times and hit more than a dozen times but never backing down.

The toughness that he displayed that day was a constant throughout his career that was scrutinized consistently on the back pages and sports radio. We know about the historic consecutive games played streak. What is overlooked is the mental toughness needed in playing the marquee position in New York City, only rivaled by being the shortstop or centerfielder on the Yankees. Manning never had an off-field slip ups, always standing before the media after a loss and giving the spotlight to his teammates after wins.

That is why the two other moments of his career stood out: his tears when Tom Coughlin told him “it’s not your fault” when he parted ways with the Giants and his last start, walking off with his family for one last time. Both moments showed to the public the Manning that his teammate talked about in reverential terms.

The connection to Manning, the organization and fans was cemented when he retired when he said “Wellington Mara always said, ‘Once a Giant, always a Giant.’ For me, it’s Only a Giant.” He should one day be enshrined in Canton, but no matter he will always be the greatest Giant of all time.

— James Hickey

A Hall of Fame person

I have all the favorite in-game memories everyone else does. The Super Bowl games, the Helmet Catch, the throw to Mario Manningham. Scrawling on the wall at the Jerry-Dome after winning there in 2009. I remember Manning’s lips quivering when Tom Coughlin bid goodbye after the 2015 season.

Maybe because I have had the opportunity to interact with him, though, I cherish different memories. Watching Manning and Rich Seubert race during a training camp practice in Albany. A 40-yard dash Seubert won, by the way. The way Manning ALWAYS took responsibility after games when things had not gone well, protecting his teammates even when whatever happened had not been his fault. All the times over the years that Manning — when he has not been obligated to — has given me time via phone from whatever event or charity he was involved in.

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Manning as a player, for me he is a Hall of Fame person. That matters more than anything.

— Ed Valentine