Giants Quarterback Eli Manning Proves He's Elite

In his Fox Sports column, Jason Whitlock weighs in on the New York Giants' Super Bowl win against the New England Patriots. He says that it propelled Giants quarterback Eli Manning to a new and historic level in football, surpassing even his older brother, Peyton, New England Patriot Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

For most of us, Sunday’s Super Bowl is the most significant we’ve ever witnessed. We either weren’t around or weren’t old enough to see Joe Willie Namath back up his guarantee, legitimize the AFL and turn the NFL’s season finale into a national holiday.

Super Bowl III played out eight days before President Richard Nixon took office, six months before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, when gas sold for 35 cents a gallon and Madonna was like a 10-year-old virgin.

Yeah, Jan. 12, 1969 — the day Namath exited the Orange Bowl wagging his index finger after leading the Jets to an upset of the Colts — was a long time ago.

Feb. 5, 2012 — the day Eli Manning surpassed his big brother, cemented Tom Coughlin’s legacy and damaged Tom Brady’s and Bill Belichick’s reputations with another scintillating, fourth-quarter touchdown drive — is still fresh in our minds.

And it just might be another four decades before we see an NFL game as significant as the Giants’ 21-17 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

The victory Eli Manning engineered inside The House Peyton Built could dramatically change, for the worse, the narrative on three of the biggest names in all of sports (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick).

Read Jason Whitlock's entire column at Fox Sports.