The two-ring franchise quarterback the Giants secured with that blockbuster 2004 draft day deal with the Chargers.
Opposing the two-ring franchise quarterback the Steelers secured with the 11th pick of the 2004 draft, the two-ring franchise quarterback who would have been a Giant if there was no blockbuster draft day trade.
Eli Manning throwing to his Antonio Brown.
Ben Roethlisberger throwing to his Odell Beckham Jr.
Eli versus Ben, again.
Eli-Ben IV.
The stakes between them have never been higher. The Giants are 8-3 and trying to chase down the 10-1 Cowboys and reach for a stranglehold on a wild-card berth. The Steelers are 6-5 and tied atop the AFC North with the Ravens.
“We gotta prove that we belong,” Manning said on WFAN. “Hey, if you’re gonna be a good team, if you’re gonna make a run to the playoffs, you gotta beat good teams. We gotta keep winning.”
Eli takes a six-game winning streak into Heinz Field on Sunday, along with the exhilarating prospect of his first playoff game since Super Bowl XLVI … and an offense that very well may need to score 30 or more points for the first time this season.
“We can be a quick-strike team, which is good, ’cause you never know when we can just hit a big one,” Manning said.
These Ben McAdoo Giants have mostly been carried by their defense, but against Big Ben and Brown and Le’Veon Bell, they cannot count on a D-ecember afternoon.
And they sure cannot count on their pedestrian running game, which can only improve when left guard Justin Pugh returns, possibly against the Steelers.
“We’re gonna hang with it. We’re getting close,” Manning said.
They need Manning to raise his game now and carry them to the finish line, to the playoffs, and to the top of the NFC East if possible — and it starts Sunday.
They need their Super Mann of Steel.
For a December to remember.
“It’s gonna come down to the fourth quarter, and can you step up? Can you raise your level of play in those moments, in critical moments, in critical times?” Manning said. “We’ve been in those situations and we’ve made those plays, we’ve raised the level.”
Manning doesn’t have a wondrous running back like Bell, but he won’t have Jason Pierre-Paul and Olivier Vernon getting after him or Janoris Jenkins shadowing Beckham.
We are 11 games into the third year of the Manning-McAdoo marriage and the explosive offense they both trumpeted this season is still long overdue.
The Steelers are 22nd in passing yards allowed. The Giants are 23rd.
An Eli-Big Ben Shootout would mean it would be incumbent upon Manning to start targeting Sterling Shepard again and, of course, get the ball in Beckham’s hands early and often, and improve his accuracy on the deep balls.
“You gotta stay loose and calm and be yourself and don’t get so nervous or think it’s so important that all of a sudden you’re running stiff and not making plays,” Manning said.
Big Ben (23 TDs, 7 INTs, 2,745 yards) has the edge this season on Eli (20 TDs, 10 INTs, 2,902 yards).
He also has the edge in career numbers — except in the playoffs, when Eli is 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the Super Bowl and Big Ben is 11-6 and 2-1 in the Super Bowl.
Eli has never missed a start. That means 205 consecutive games, and counting.
Big Ben had off-field baggage early in his career and was suspended four games under the NFL’s personal-conduct policy after being accused, but not charged or convicted, of sexually assaulting a Georgia college student following a night of drinking. He underwent surgery after suffering facial injuries in an offseason motorcycle accident because he didn’t wear a helmet.
Eli and Big Ben last met on Nov. 4, 2012, when Big Ben (21-for-30, 216 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) rallied the Steelers to a 24-20 victory over a 6-2 Giants team at MetLife season. Manning suffered through a 10-for-24 nightmare for 125 yards and 1 INT. On Oct. 26, 2008, Manning (19-for-32, 199 yards, 1 TD beat Big Ben (13-for-29 for 189 yards, 4 INTs) 21-14 at Heinz Field. They first met on Dec. 18, 2004, and Big Ben (16-for-28, 316 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs) prevailed 33-30 over Eli (16-for-23, 182 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) at Giants Stadium.
“I think you always kinda want your draft class to be remembered, in a good way,” Manning said.
Eli, Big Ben and Philip Rivers.
“I’m kinda proud of Ben, and proud of Philip,” Manning said. “Look forward to these matchups.”
Big Ben is the better quarterback. Eli is the better playoff and Super Bowl quarterback.
And Eli was and is the better quarterback for New York, and for the Giants.
And now, with Big Ben and the Steelers in his way, for the Giants to be Men of Steel, they need Eli to be their Super Mann of Steel.