GREEN BAY – A former Chargers quarterback is in the Super Bowl.
All right, the San Diego club had title to Eli Manning for only about an hour.
Yes, after A.J. Smith named him at the top of the NFL's 2004 draft, Manning reacted when he was handed a Chargers cap as if he had been invited to wear motley. Granted, Manning was relieved when on choice No. 4 in those selections, negotiation rights to him were assigned to the New York Giants.
Whatever, little brother is in the game with the Roman numerals and big brother is not. Should the junior of the quarterbacking Mannings deliver the Giants a victory over the New England Patriots in XLII on Feb. 3, he would be matching what Peyton Manning did a year ago when he escorted the Indianapolis Colts to a 29-17 conquest of the Chicago Bears in XLI.
The Giants-Patriots game is certain to create dialogues concerning which team acted more wisely during the 2004 draft: the Chargers, who in surrendering Manning positioned themselves to select Philip Rivers and additionally gained a first-round selection in 2005 that became Shawne Merriman, or the Giants, whose then General Manager, Ernie Accorsi, was so avid to claim Manning that he gave up two first-round choices to get him.
One thing cannot be debated. The New Yorkers are going to Glendale, Ariz., for XLII in large part because while the team was being outscored by the Patriots 38-35 on Dec. 29, Manning seemed to experience an epiphany.
In his team's previous 15 games, Manning had turned the football over 26 times. Against the Patriots, he had an additional interception. It was his last. He has not served another in the three games, all on foreign fields, that the Giants have swept in becoming the first wild-card team since the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers to gain the NFL's climactic event. The Steelers would win Super Bowl XL with a 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
|
Super Bowl XLII
New England Patriots (18-0)
vs. New York Giants (13-6)
When/where: Feb. 3/Glendale, Ariz.
Time/TV: 3:17 p.m./Ch. 6
|
|
Including the earlier game against the Patriots, Manning has been a 75-for-117 passer for 873 yards. In his past three appearances, he has outplayed Jeff Garcia of Tampa Bay, Tony Romo of Dallas and Brett Favre of Green Bay.
Next for Manning: a rematch against Tom Brady, whom Manning did not outperform in December while New England, now 18-0, was completing an all-victorious regular season.
Brady was 32-for-42 in that one for 356 yards, with 4-and 65-yard scoring spirals to Randy Moss and 11 completions for 122 yards to Wes Welker.
According to wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who like Moss had two scoring receptions in the earlier Giants-Patriots game, nothing wondrous has happened to Manning. “I don't think he has made a turn; I think he's always been there,” Burress said. “He's just been patient, just been relaxed.”
Burress' 11 receptions against the Packers were only two short of the playoff record of 13 held by former Charger Kellen Winslow and others. Manning was reaching him on what the Packers term “back shoulder” routes, and Al Harris, considered one of the NFL's most physical corner defenders, could not check him.
Burress had had just two catches for 30 yards when the Pack had outscored the New Yorkers 35-13 in the Meadowlands in Week 2.
The boyish Manning, 27, was his customary self-effacing self following the signal victory of his four NFL seasons. “For me to play well, all the guys around me have to do the job,” he said. “It can be easy when they do.”
But nothing could have been easy in the cold of Lambeau Field, where the temperature was measured at 3 degrees below zero and the chill factor at a minus-24 at the start of the final period.
Manning was not deterred. It was left for Favre to err – when he underthrew Donald Driver on his side's second play from scrimmage of the overtime and Corey Webster secured the interception that preceded Lawrence Tynes' climactic 47-yard field goal.
Manning said the Giants anticipated that the hosts would be pursuing largely man coverages, which they did. “They feel very comfortable with their corners,” the quarterback explained. Only Harris was unable to cope with Burress, and finally Webster came up with his interception.
After Week 2, only the most optimistic members of the Blue Nation could have envisioned the Giants in a Super Bowl. The team was outscored in its first two games by Dallas 45-35, then by Green Bay 35-13.
“You're 0-2 and you start on the treadmill again,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “You start with the negatives.”
Coughlin at this point was an unpopular figure. His stewardship of the Giants was being attacked. But his side proceeded to hit through six consecutive triumphs.
“The real key is the heart of the team,” Coughlin said. “The heart definitely is in the right place, and they are a team.”
The Packers gathered for a team meeting yesterday, then broke for an offseason in which they would seem to have much to consider.
Though they finished 14-4, in their two biggest games, against the Cowboys and in the rematch with the Giants, they had not performed effectively.
While some of the Packers made themselves available yesterday, Favre did not make an appearance. The quarterback is weighing whether he should extend his career into an 18th season.
Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com
