Oxford, Mississippi to New York, New York.

[Bleacher Creature]

All I can say about Eli Manning, is that he better have his "A-Game" going all the time. He talks of how he's felt pressure playing in Oxford, Mississippi, where his dad was the star some thirty plus years ago. He says that pressure has made him strong. Well Eli, we shall see.


Welcome to New York City, New York.

Alot of people have gone there with the mindset of taking the apple by storm, only, to have their spirits crushed and broken. In NY, EVERYTHING you do will be magnified to the inth degree. If you make it big, you'll be the "toast of the town". But, you'll be burnt toast if you cannot maintain a high level of play.

Good luck Eli, you're going to need it.


If I ever had the choice between San Diego and New York, it'll be California here I come.

[CD]

While the pressure at Oxford isn't what it will be in New York, do not underestimate the pressure both Manning brothers faced in college. You have to understand just how huge Archie Manning is in the state of Mississippi. He's probably the state's No. 1 celebrity. The speed limit on the University of Mississippi campus is 18 miles per hour because that was Archie's number. The athletic department have entire wings and rooms devoted to celebrating Archie. Ole Miss despises Peyton Manning because he decided not to go there after they had been waiting for him for years. They then waiting for Eli for years. The pressure Eli faced at Ole Miss was huge.

It's not what it will be in New York--nothing can compare to that--but it was huge. And as Michael Irvin pointed out yesterday, if Eli succeeds, he'll no longer be known as "Archie's son" or "Peyton's brother." Instead, Archie will be known as "Eli's dad" and Peyton will be known as "Eli's brother."

People make a huge deal over going to New York but the fact is that many players succeed going there every single year. There was a huge difference between the pressure of Huntington, West Virginia and the pressure of New York and the Jets have a quarterback who made that jump with little trouble to become the toast of town.

[SLUBLUE]

Kev.

Good post, only because you made great use of 'world rocking'. That will always get you points with me.

Honestly, I wonder if Eli wouldn't have gone to SD if Schoettenheimer wasn't the coach. That guy is a QB killer.

It's a shame because I think Drew Brees has talent, but how can you play on that joke of a team?

[CD]

Originally posted by SLUBLUE@Apr 25 2004, 08:35 AM
It's a shame because I think Drew Brees has talent, but how can you play on that joke of a team?

I disagree. Brees can't even throw a good slant pattern. That is the most basic and widely used pass route in the NFL and Brees can't throw it well.

[Guppy]

Like Dev said, Archie is the closest thing to a legend in Oxford and I think that part of the reason Peyton did not go there was he did not want to have all of the comparisons to his father. Eli went and he played very well.

The pressure was probably just as tough as it will be in NYC because of his dad going to Ole Miss. I do not think the pressure will be as much to perform in the NFL because you look at what Archie did and what his brother has done so far. Peyton is a co-MVP and that is about it for right now. Neither has won a Super Bowl or anything else.


And just to give you an idea, I was there in Oxford for "Senior Day" vs LSU last year and when Archie's name was mentioned, it was just as loud for that as when Ole Miss got an INT and scored a touchdown. Granted it was not as long as the TD, but the place was loud as hell.

[Ohio Blues]

Oxford, Mississippi doesn't have a good ring to it.

[Guppy]

Originally posted by ohio BLUES@Apr 25 2004, 07:42 PM
Oxford, Mississippi doesn't have a good ring to it.

Ever been there?

Try The Grove once and you will be hooked <_<

[CD]

The Grove is definitely on my list of must-see places on a college football Saturday.

Guppy, don't underestimate what Peyton Manning has accomplished. If he simply continues at his current pace for another three years, he's a Hall of Famer whether or not he gets to a Super Bowl. Both Peyton and Archie have been named the league's MVP.

[tallahassee blues fan]

I have to confess that I was not sold on Eli until this year. That Ole Miss team wasn't very good and he damn near got them into the conference championship game. Jaworski did a good job of diagramming a pass he threw against LSU that showed both the skill and judgment required to succeed in the NFL. I think he'll do just fine.

[Guppy]

I am not taking anything from what Peyton and Archie have done (I was unaware that Archie got a MVP). I just don't think that there would be as much pressure on Eli though. Just seeing what Eli and Peyton did during college, I would expect more out of Peyton when he reached the pros.

The pressure that Eli had to put up with in Oxford was more than he would get if he went to Georgia, LSU or anywhere else. Now if Eli went to New Orleans to play, the Saints fans might have done the same that he faced in Oxford. But being in the NY metro area, every sports writer will have something to say about him. He is under more of a spotlight there than if he was in San Diego.

[hansolo]

The speed limit at Ole Miss is 18mph.

han solo

[CD]

I'm not underestimating the pressure Eli was under at Ole Miss. It was HUGE. The only other place where it would have been comparable would've been had he gone to Tennessee. But it would've been huge anywhere he went, especially in the SEC, because every college football fan knows all about Archie Manning and Peyton Manning.

Combining the bloodlines and the city to which he is going, plus the news of him wanting no part of San Diego becoming public, the pressure on Eli will be huge. But he has the type of personality to handle it.

Just some fodder on Peyton Manning: if he has four more average years (by his standard), he will be no lower than ninth on the all-time yardage list and very possibly as high as seventh (depends on what a couple other still active quarterbacks do between now and then). He'll have surpassed 40,000 yards in just ten years. That is remarkable.

Just for the sake of comparison, it took Dan Marino 11 years to get to 40,000 and he's the all-time leader in passing yardage. Though in fairness to Marino, he played fewer games than Manning probably would have because Marino wasn't an immediate starter as a rookie (11 games played) and only played 12 games in 1987 because of the strike.