We’ve seen a lot of hot takes between NFL and NBA athletes before but this one comes as a little bit of a shocker.
Damon Harrison was on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football on Monday and was asked about the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2017 list, saying “it makes no sense that Manning wasn’t on the list when at the same time we’ve got rookies from last year .. which I guess makes sense if you go off the year alone.”
But Harrison made this comment about Manning:
“Eli, when you look at Eli, it’s kind of like when you look at LeBron [James],” Harrison said. “I’m not saying they’re the same, but look at Eli’s numbers. If any other quarterback would have those numbers it would be an amazing year. But it being Eli, no one is respecting it much like we do LeBron. LeBron could average 30 [points], 15 rebounds and 12 assists and it’s like ‘he didn’t do enough.'”
Manning’s numbers were down a bit from 2014 and 2015, but he still threw for over 4,000 yards and completed 62 percent of his passes for the third straight year.
The Giants offense as a whole underachieved and like all starting quarterbacks, the blame usually falls at the feet of the starting quarterback.
Eli, who has the two Super Bowl’s under his wing is also ranked in Top 10 in all time passing yards and touchdowns. But it’s been the inconsistent play throughout his career that has yielded some from mentioning him in the same breath as Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and even his brother Peyton Manning.
Both Manning and James have put up performances that can go underappreciated because more is expected out of them for being better than the average player in their respective sports.
