It was a sight that was so familiar for Colts fans. A quarterback named Manning got the ball, trailing in the fourth quarter, and he coolly and systematically led his team to victory. It wasn't Peyton this time, it was Eli. And it wasn't the Colts, either. It was the New York Giants who rallied to a thrilling 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Eli Manning is elite, for sure. A king of comebacks, too. And far, far more than Peyton's little brother now. Spot-on from beginning to end Sunday night, Eli Manning won his second NFL championship in a four-year span -- and second Super Bowl MVP award -- for coolly, calmly steering the New York Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots with a last-minute touchdown drive.
This is a followup article to the awards article I wrote back in January.
It's hard to say a 13-3 season with a playoff win is a disappointment, yet I think Saints players, coaches and fans would all agree the 2011 version of the New Orleans Saints expected so much more than a divisional round playoff loss.
Of course that loss ultimately has to be pinned on the defense and its inability to hold down a lead two times in a span of five minutes of game time. Some of it could also be accredited to an offense which turned the ball over five times, but that same offense scored twice in the final five minutes to take a lead.
So it seems fair to say that most Saints fans will remember 2011 as the year that could have been, perhaps even should have been. But let's not allow the Saints' failures in one game to blind our memory of all the incredible accomplishments of this Saints squad.
As Drew Brees has talked about numerous times, it's not the losing that hurts the most, it's the group and the journey that each player is going to miss, and thus the aspect which hurts the most.
It hurts because this team had a spectacular 2011 campaign. Here are 10 ways that was true.
When you break one of the most storied records in the history of professional football, you better be named Offensive Player of the Year.
And that’s exactly what happened with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees on Saturday, when he was named Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.
Not to be confused with Most Valuable Player, Offensive Player of the Year is an award based on stats, and Brees was a fantasy player’s dream in 2011.
He broke Dan Marino’s single-season passing yards mark with 5,476. Well maybe broke isn’t a strong enough word. Considering he put up 392 yards more and passed the mark with over a full game to go…he obliterated one of the most storied records in the league.
He also broke the completion percentage record by connecting on 71.2 percent of his throws. The old record was 70.6 set by none other than Brees. While his 46 TDs didn’t break Tom Brady’s record of 50, it was 12 better than his previous career-high.
Oh, did I also mention he didn’t lose a single fumble this year?
Fourteen interceptions is the only blemish on this spotless resume and it’s the only reason Aaron Rodgers was still in the conversation for the award. His 2011 season was great as well (4,643 yards, 45 TDs and six INTs, four fumbles lost), but it’s just not as good as Brees'.
Comparing the receiving corps of the two shows us that the Packers had a much more stacked unit (Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, James Jones, Jermichael Finley) than the Saints (Marques Colston, Lance Moore, Robert Meachem, Devery Henderson, Jimmy Graham).
While the MVP debate is going to rage on with the Packers 15-1 regular season going up against the Saints 13-3, there is no question that when you are going by statistics, Brees had the best 2011 season, and quite frankly one of the best of all time.
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