INDIANAPOLIS —Peyton Manning was right.
Everybody was so mesmerized Sunday by Mario Manningham’s feet, they didn’t pay attention to the brilliance of the throw. This was a pass that hit a dime from 45 paces.
“He talked about the throw to Manningham,” New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning said Monday during his news conference for being the MVP of Super Bowl XLVI. “He was mad. He said everybody was talking about how great a catch it was. He said it was a pretty good throw, also. It’s a brother looking out for me.”
Wes Welker was wrong.
The incomplete pass with 4:06 remaining that gave Eli Manning and the Giants hope of a comeback was less a drop than it was a misguided pass. From the Giants’ 44-yard line, Welker, the superb slot receiver of the New England Patriots, was left alone as he ran behind the busted coverage, looking to catch the ball in front of his left shoulder. Tom Brady, the Patriots’ superstar quarterback, didn’t throw the ball to Welker’s left shoulder. Instead, he threw it a couple of feet behind Welker’s right shoulder.
At full speed, Welker made an adjustment in the air, contorted his body, got his hands on the ball and then dropped it. The speed of his adjustment might have been a tick too fast while also trying to snatch the ball.
“It’s a play I never drop,” Welker said after the Giants rallied to beat the Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium. “Most critical situation, and I let the team down.”
A better throw — a pinpoint pass like the one Manning threw to Manningham — and Welker probably scores, and the Patriots in all likelihood win their fourth Super Bowl.
Instead, Welker falls at the Giants’ 20-yard line as the ball bounces away. The Giants get the ball back at their 12 with 3:46 remaining. And on the first play, Manning throws the ball from 45 yards away, counting his dropback, and drops it perfectly between two defensive players — smack dab into the moving target that was Manningham’s hands near the sideline.
A 38-yard gain to exactly midfield. The Giants are in business. They go on to win 21-17.
Manningham didn’t have to move an inch to catch the ball, though he did have to snag it and keep two feet down at the same time. But the pass. Peyton Manning was saying to his younger brother at the Giants’ victory party early Monday.
Then again, give Manningham his due. Eli Manning is getting so much more. Until two months ago, few considered Eli among the NFL’s top five quarterbacks. From 2003-08, the “NFL’s best quarterback” discussion was Peyton Manning or Brady, Brady or Peyton Manning. Drew Brees joined the debate in 2009. Aaron Rodgers became a legitimate candidate in 2010, leading the Packers to a Super Bowl victory. Eli joined Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers and maybe Michael Vick as the best of the rest.
Now there is chatter that Eli is better than his brother Peyton and better than Brady.
Crazy how two plays — one made, one not made — can alter how contemporaries view players in a historical context.
Brady had back-to-back drives Sunday in which he completed 15-of-15 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns. And that wasn’t good enough. There’s even reactionary talk that Brady isn’t good enough, period.
How absurd.
How about instead of allowing instant buzz to rearrange the QB order for posterity’s sake, we list the quarterbacks, in no particular order, this way: Tom Brady won three Super Bowls, played in five and twice has been the league’s MVP; Peyton Manning has won an NFL-record four MVP awards, played in two Super Bowls and won one; Roethlisberger has played in three Super Bowls and won two; Eli Manning has won two Super Bowls in two starts; Brees and Rodgers have each won one Super Bowl.
And have everybody wait another 10 years or so to debate the order. What has been indisputable during this terrific run of exciting Super Bowl games is it’s all about the quarterback.
Keep working, Tim Tebow.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
