Is There Really an Eli Manning/Tony Romo Debate Going On?

A year after getting ridiculed for declaring himself to be in the same elite category as Tom Brady and Drew Brees, Eli Manning has added another Lombardi Trophy to his resume and established himself as one of the better clutch quarterbacks in the game. However, for whatever reason, he is still being compared to guys like Tony Romo instead of Tom Brady.

This, quite confusing debate, honestly, all has transpired because former New York Giants wide receiver Amani Toomer stated that if he had to make a choice, he’d rather have Romo throwing to him than Eli. Seriously.

“Tony Romo is probably, if you look at him statistically, he’s probably the best quarterback in the NFC East. I mean, you look at Eli Manning and what he does in the fourth quarter. But you talk about consistency, Romo can play. For me, If I wanted a guy that is gonna throw less interceptions, be more productive, higher completion percentage, I’m going to go with Tony Romo. At crunch time he’s not as good as Eli, but every other time he’s pretty darn good.”

After taking a lot of criticism for making the above statement, Toomer has refused to walk down his statements and has even doubled down on them.

“I love Eli, and I respect the hell out of him as a person, but I have to do my job, and I have to look at him beyond what the perception is because the perception doesn’t always go hand in hand with the reality. I was all set, Romo’s no good, he’s a fourth-quarter choker, and then I started doing my job. I started looking at the numbers. I started looking at the statistics. I started looking at the quarterback rating. And I was shocked. I was shocked at how good Tony Romo’s statistics really were. This guy is really impressive.”

Now, before I go any further, I do want to state that I do think Tony Romo is a much better quarterback than he is perceived nationally.  The guy puts up huge numbers, but his decision-making in late-game scenarios have always been frustrating to watch. But Toomer sounds like he’s been playing too much fantasy football.

There are plenty of guys who put up crazy stats and have never won a thing. Do you think they wouldn’t trade it all for a second to have that elusive Super Bowl title? Sure, put up the Pro Bowl numbers and be a top 5 pick in a Fantasy football draft, but I’m going to take the guy with two Super Bowl titles over the guy who has better stats any day.

This is just further proving two things to me. First, the obsession with Fantasy football has gotten way out of hand. When I see people at a game, and I have, cheering for players on the opposing team because they have them on their fantasy roster, it makes me sick to my stomach. Second, just because a guy played in the NFL and was a decent player doesn’t mean they’ll make a good or decent analyst.

Anyways, now this “debate” seems to have gained national exposure. You’ve got a collection of talking head idiots, led by Skip Bayless, on ESPN First Take arguing this comparison. That in itself should be reason enough to realize it’s just a stupid topic. But here you have this discussion going on debating who is better between a guy with two titles and two Super Bowl MVP’s under his arm with a guy who has won as many playoff games as T.J. Yates.

There comes a point where you have to ask your self if the statement “is Tony Romo better than Eli Manning” is either a trick question or the result of NFL offseason deprivation.

No, I don’t believe it is only about winning Super Bowls and championships are all that matter. I mean, Trent Dilfer has a Super Bowl ring and Fran Tarkenton, who is considered one of the greatest of all time, never won a title.

But Tony Romo is no Fran Tarkenton. And Eli certainly isn’t Trent Dilfer.