Tiki Barber: Eli Manning Better Than Peyton Manning
By Mike Dyce
Former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber hasn’t always been willing to compliment his former teammate Eli Manning, but lately he is on a tear defending former Giants teammates. First he got into a war of words with Warren Sapp over Michael Strahan, now Barber is praising Eli Manning.
“The expectation was that he was never going to be Peyton. I remember having these conversations with people who watched Eli in college, saying, ‘He’s good, but he’s never going to be Peyton, he’s not Peyton.’ Guess what? I think he’s better than Peyton,” Barber said on the CBS Sports Radio Network show he hosts. “Because of clutch. What matters in sports? It’s winning and losing. You get to the stage and what do you do? Eli’s gotten there and he’s won.”
Interesting stat: Eli’s postseason record is 8-3 while Peyton’s is 9-11. Now, there have been seasons Eli hasn’t made the playoffs while a Peyton led squad almost surely makes the playoffs. Peyton also has a slew of passing records to add to his single Super Bowl resume that Eli can’t.
But those lack of records won’t keep Eli out of the top 5 all-time discussion according to Barber.
“For Eli to crack the top five of all time, he’s got to have a 2011 [type] season a couple more times and win another Super Bowl and be Super Bowl MVP, and then I think he’s in the discussion for the top five [quarterbacks] of all time,” Barber said.
“As much as you want to try and diminish what he’s done, you can’t,” Barber said of Eli. “Every stat and conversation point supports what he’s done.”