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Eli Manning: From Free Fallin’ To Running Down A Dream
Authored by Andrew Perna - 12th February, 2008 - 2:36 pm
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It was only fitting that the NFL opted to have Tom Petty perform during Super Bowl XLII’s halftime show. As it turns out, Petty’s discography would make for an excellent soundtrack to the rollercoaster of a season endured by Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning.
When Petty hits the road for his North American tour at the beginning of this summer, he might as well rename the tour after the youngest Manning brother. From beginning to end some of the classic America rocker’s biggest hits perfectly mirror Manning’s miracle ride to Glendale, Arizona.
Let’s rundown Petty’s Eli-inspired set list:
“And I’m free, I’m free fallin’”
After two games Manning and the Giants were 0-2 and looking up at the rest of the NFC East. Eli had posted 523 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions, but his success wasn’t translating over into the win column. The New York media immediately began lambasting both Eli and Head Coach Tom Coughlin. The defense had given up a combined eighty points against the Cowboys and Packers, negating the twenty-four points a game Manning and the offense were posting. Three quarters through their battle with the Redskins in Week Three, it looked as though New York was going drop yet another winnable game.
“You don’t know how it feels,
You don’t know how it feels to be me”
Knowing a boatload of criticism would await them if they began the season with three-straight losses, Manning and the Giants’ defense laughed in the face of adversity. Eli hooked up with Plaxico Burress with less than six minutes left to give New York a 24-17 win over Washington, avoiding embarrassment in the process.
“Don’t come around here no more,
Whatever you’re looking for”
Just five weeks after being a failed goal-line stand away from an 0-3 mark, the Giants were 6-2 and kicking back during their bye in Week Nine. Heading into a battle with the rival Cowboys, they were mentioned among the NFC’s best teams as Manning was doing just enough to lead New York to win after win. He posted 1,584 yards and 13 touchdowns in the first half of the season, temporarily keeping his ever-present critics at bay. That immunity, however, would not last long at all.
“Breakdown,
Go ahead and give it to me”
After playing well through the first half of the season, Eli essentially broke down in the three games following New York’s week off. The Giants lost to the Cowboys and Vikings as Manning posted six interceptions and just three touchdowns in those three games. The engine officially stalled against Minnesota when he went 21-for-49 with 273 yards, one touchdown, and four horrible interceptions in an embarrassing 41-17 loss. After their infamous collapse last season, dozens of pundits were declaring that the Giants were done once again.
“You got lucky babe,
Yeah you got lucky…”
After losing two of three, New York righted the ship enough to win two of three despite Eli’s continued struggles. He posted three touchdowns and two interceptions with a completion percentage of just forty-five during the three-game period. The Giants were fortunate that their defense played good enough football to salvage a pair of wins despite Eli’s spotty play.
“Don’t do me like that,
Don’t do me like that”
New York clinched a playoff berth with a win over the Buffalo Bills in Week Sixteen, but once again Manning looked like a deer in the headlights on the field. He threw the ball only fifteen times, his lowest mark of the regular season, for just 111 yards and two interceptions. With the undefeated New England Patriots on the bill and a Wild Card matchup just two weeks away, it didn’t seem like Manning had what New York needed to make noise in January.
“Well, I won't back down, no I won't back down,
You could stand me up at the gates of hell,
But I won't back down”
Heading into a game that meant nothing to them, the Giants gave the Patriots all they had in the regular season finale. Eli looked like an MVP candidate against New England’s stingy defense, going 22-for-32 with 251 yards, and four touchdowns in a narrow 38-35 loss. He played a more complete game than Tom Brady as he connected for a touchdown in each of the game’s four quarters. With history on the line, the resilient Giants and their much-maligned quarterback refused to back down.
“O yeah, all right
Take it easy, baby
Make it last all night
She was an American girl”
After knocking off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their eighth straight road win, the Giants headed to Dallas for a showdown with the mighty Cowboys in the divisional round of the playoffs. Tony Romo, with blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson on his arm, tossed up a lame duck against the Giants in a surprising 21-17 loss. Eli, who is still with his college sweetheart despite his million dollar bank account, outplayed the Cowboys’ more-heralded quarterback on his way to a date with the Packers in the NFC Title game. Dallas might be America’s team and Simpson the country’s girl, but the Giants' win over the Cowboys put Eli halfway to stealing America’s heart.
“Yeah runnin' down a dream,
That never would come to me,
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads,
Runnin' down a dream”
After a stunning overtime win over the Green Bay Packers, Manning and the G-Men enjoyed two weeks of Super Bowl coverage. The only problem – just a small portion of the hype involved them. Super Bowl XLII was set to become the cherry on the top of the Patriots’ perfect ice cream sundae of a 2007 season. That’s why the Giants kicked off the week prior to the big game as fourteen-point underdogs in Glendale.
“It's good to be king, if just for a while,
To be there in velvet, yeah, to give 'em a smile,
It's good to get high and never come down,
It's good to be king of your own little town”
Manning capped off a close to perfect postseason with the performance of a lifetime against the previously undefeated Patriots. In four playoff wins Eli tallied 854 passing yards, six touchdowns, and just one interception on his way to grabbing the Super Bowl MVP trophy away from the manicured hands of Tom Brady. He didn’t try to do too much but immortalized himself and receiver David Tyree on what has quickly become one of the greatest moments in Super Bowl history.
I can just see Manning lean and whisper to Tyree as the two jogged to the sideline after punctuating their game-winning drive…
“Yeah, you got lucky babe,
When I found you”
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM. Feel free to contact him via e-mail at Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com, as he is always interested to hear what readers have to say.
