Playoffs

This has been a disappointing NFL postseason, both in terms of my favorite teams, and more generally from the perspective of wanting to see the best matchups. Today's lackluster games remind me a lot of the championship weekends from 2001 (when the Ravens won it) and 2003 (the Bucs' year), and serves as a reminder that the NFL is a lot better when two or three teams are clearly the best. I'd like to see McNabb win it, I suppose. I don't ever remember an elite quarterback having to put up with more nonsense than he has (Limbaugh, T.O., the NAACP guy who wrote the op-ed piece savaging him, and in general the fickle Philly fans). It'd be ironic if he won it this year, since he's no longer an elite quarterback in most people's eyes, and this is far from the best team he's had. But now that I've come out in his favor, he'll probably lose. 

One silver lining to these playoffs is that it will allow us to put to rest the idea that Eli Manning is the quarterbacking equal of his older brother. You may remember that Gregg Easterbrook made that very suggestion earlier this year, when Peyton was struggling and Eli was leading the league's best team. It was a silly idea then, and is even sillier now. 

Their statistics from year two through five (since Eli didn't play the whole rookie year, I tossed it. Also, thanks to www.pro-football-reference.com for the data.):

Peyton: 

Year 2: 4135 yards, 26 TDs, 15 INTs, 90.7 rating.

Year 3: 4414 yards, 33 TDs, 15 INTs, 94.7 rating.

Year 4: 4131 yards, 26 TDs, 23 INTs, 84.1 rating.

Year 5: 4200 yards, 27 TDs, 19 INTs, 88.8 rating.

Eli: 

Year 2: 3762 yards, 24 TDs, 17 INTs, 74.9 rating. 
Year 3: 3244 yards, 24 TDs, 18 INTs, 77.0 rating.
Year 4: 3336 yards, 23 TDs, 20 INTs, 73.9 rating.
Year 5: 3238 yards, 21 TDs, 10 INTs, 86.4 rating.

There's really no comparison. Peyton actually played a lot better from years 6 on, when he started to control his interceptions more (I remember thinking he turned the ball over too much when he was younger, but I didn't remember how much of a problem that was; 23 picks in one year?). Maybe Eli will show comparable improvement, but at year five of his career, Eli is not even in Peyton's league. The playoffs, however, are another story, as Peyton was really bad in the postseason early in his career, while Eli, after two pretty lame performances early in his career, played great last year. But then again, Eli reminded us last weekend that his playoff performance isn't necessarily on an upward trajectory.