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Outside of those who reside in New England, have you ever met a football fan that didn’t like Eli Manning?
A wholly average quarterback in every sense of the word, Eli Manning masterfully maintained that middle ground of being good enough to be a legitimate starter for over a decade but not good enough to particularly perturb rival fan bases.
Plus, arguably the funniest aspect of Eli Manning’s entire existence is that he is more or less the only known kryptonite against the evil empire of the New England Patriots. After all, you can’t predict what your opponent is thinking if he doesn’t think at all, and the Patriots learned that the hard way in their two Super Bowl losses against the former Ole Miss quarterback.
Now, 15 years into his NFL career (and about three years since he’s been competent enough to remain a starting quarterback), the Eli Manning era in the Big Apple seems to have officially come to an end, as the Giants named Duke rookie Daniel Jones their starting quarterback for their Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Bucs.
While Eli may make another start or two for the G-Men before it’s all said and done, the fact is that his time of being the *face* of one of the NFL’s premier franchises has unfortunately come to an end, and for that, we feel he deserves a proper send-off.
And what better way to honor Eli Manning’s borderline Hall of Fame career than to look at what made him a household name in the first place — his face.
But first, a little soundtrack to properly put you in the reminiscing mood:
Thanks for memories, the tea-bagging of the Patriots, and of course, the many faces, Eli. New York will miss you.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Contact him: eric@brobible.com.