It’s the Hall of “Fame” not the “Hall of Elite Ability”. Eli Manning has two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs. His wins are memorable for the circumstances surrounding both runs. If Tom Brady is in conversation as the GOAT, it’s impossible to tell the GOAT’s story without mentioning “that one mfer Eli Manning who got over on him twice”. In fact, only two QBs ever beat Brady in the Super Bowl: Eli and Foles. That’s something that Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, Donovan McNabb, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Jared Goff, and Patrick Mahomes can’t say. And Eli did it twice.
This is all intentionally reductive, but I’m doing so to emphasize that people who aren’t football nerds will look at broad strokes, narratives, and “vibes” when it comes to QBs in the Hall of Fame. Eli will be remembered and talked about for those anomaly SB runs several decades from now – I can’t say I think the same for Matt Ryan (outside the context of the Falcons blowing it), let alone Phillip Rivers.
I’ll play a little contrarian here:
It’s the Hall of “Fame” not the “Hall of Elite Ability”. Eli Manning has two rings and two Super Bowl MVPs. His wins are memorable for the circumstances surrounding both runs. If Tom Brady is in conversation as the GOAT, it’s impossible to tell the GOAT’s story without mentioning “that one mfer Eli Manning who got over on him twice”. In fact, only two QBs ever beat Brady in the Super Bowl: Eli and Foles. That’s something that Kurt Warner, Jake Delhomme, Donovan McNabb, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, Jared Goff, and Patrick Mahomes can’t say. And Eli did it twice.
This is all intentionally reductive, but I’m doing so to emphasize that people who aren’t football nerds will look at broad strokes, narratives, and “vibes” when it comes to QBs in the Hall of Fame. Eli will be remembered and talked about for those anomaly SB runs several decades from now – I can’t say I think the same for Matt Ryan (outside the context of the Falcons blowing it), let alone Phillip Rivers.