It wasn't long ago that we were still having the "elite" argument about New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Remember those days? Remember, before the 2011 season, when Manning told reporters that he considered himself an elite quarterback in the same class as his brother Peyton Manning and Tom Brady? Remember when he "proved it" with a win over the Patriots in the Super Bowl at the end of that season?
Here we are just three years later, and nobody is saying the word "elite" anywhere near Eli Manning's name. Search the Internet and you're more likely to find adjectives like "awful" and "horrible." "Same Old Eli," Giants beat reporters say, forgetting that, just a couple of years ago when a Giants beat writer wrote "same old Eli," he meant that the Giants had one of the most reliable quarterbacks in the league.
How has Eli Manning fallen so far so fast? The answer is that he hasn't. Manning was never as good as his reputation at its best, and he's probably more valuable than his reputation now that it's at its worst.