National Football League

Forget Joe Flacco: Is Eli Manning elite?

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:15 p.m. ET

Andrew Lynch

The internet spends way too much time debating whether Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco is elite. For Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe and the rest of the Undisputed crew, Eli Manning's resume is the one we should question.

Manning is just three TDs shy of becoming the eighth quarterback in NFL history with 300 passing TDs, but Bayless isn't convinced that such gaudy counting stats are evidence of Manning's true talent.

Bayless came charging out of the gate, pointing out that Manning has been fortunate to win two Super Bowls:

Eli Manning has led this league in interceptions not once or twice, but three times. And Eli's teams, and I know he can't play defense or run the ball or block, but his teams have missed the playoffs the last four years. ... Do you realize the Detroit Lions have a better record than Eli's team since Eli's team won its last Super Bowl? [...]

Back to the two Super Bowls. Let's go to the first one. Eli Manning made the luckiest play in Super Bowl history to pull out a game that Tom Brady had done what he always does and thrown to Randy Moss and pulled it out with about 2:42 left to put New England ahead 14-10. ... Eli is trapped on 3rd-and-5 from the 44, and he's going to be sacked. He's not the most mobile guy, and he gets loose. How did you do that? And how many holes were there? And then he closes his eyes and throws it as far as he can throw it. ... How did you do this, Eli? You didn't even know how you did it, because you didn't even really look where you were going to throw the football. It was a pass and a prayer.

Former New York Giants coach Jim Fassel, who led the team in the seasons prior to Manning's arrival, joined the program on Friday as well, and he explained how he originally viewed Manning -- and how things have changed. Check out the rest of the video above for Fassel's perspective -- and for Sharpe's take that Manning is in fact elite.