Eli Is the Best Manning

Suck it, big bro.

People straight up chuckled last off-season when Eli Manning said he thought he was an elite quarterback. The discussion wasn't "who are the elite quarterback's in the NFL," it was "Isn't that Eli so cute? He thinks he's as good as his brother and Tom Brady." Well, guys, he is. In fact, Eli is already a more successful NFL quarterback than his brother, the better-than-great Peyton Manning. And he's only 31.

Look, no one is going to tell you that Eli is more gifted than Peyton. Peyton possesses arguably the greatest football mind of all time, and one of the best arms of the modern era. But this is the NFL, where success is measured in wins, and more importantly Super Bowl wins, and Eli has gone two-for-two.

Dan Marino is without a doubt one of the five most gifted quarterbacks of all time, but he never won a Super Bowl, so he's not in that best quarterback of all time discussion. That discussion is Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Otto Graham and John Elway. Why? Because Montana has four rings, Brady three, Graham won 8 NFL championships (pre-Super Bowl era) and Elway won two and lead his team to five in his career. Even Brett Favre tends to get left out of that discussion despite holding most of the records a quarterback can, because he only won the big game once.  I don't neccessarily think that's how it should be, because a football game is won or lost by the team, not by one guy, even if that guy is a quarterback.

Peyton has some of the best personal career stats that any quarterback can call his own, and Eli's stats simply don't compare. Peyton, however, has won one Super Bowl in his 13 seasons, while Eli has two in his first 9. So Eli has his older brother, who has cast a shadow over Eli's entire life, beaten in the only statistical category that matters.

The scary part?

Eli is entering his prime. Most quarterbacks have their best years from 30-34, and he's on pace to throw for more than 50,000 yards in his career (assuming he plays for another 8 seasons). That would put him fifth in NFL history, behind only Brett Favre, Peyton, Dan Marino and John Elway. He has thrown for 4,000 yards in each of his last three seasons, and seems to only be getting better.

The goofy looking Eli, the overshadowed younger brother of one of the best ever, played his way into the NFL Hall of Fame today in Indianapolis. But more importantly, he beat his big brother.