[C-Gold]

When people think underrated, they normally think of some young up and coming player, maybe an unheralded player on a bad team. Maybe a guy that plays in Cleveland that nobody ever gets to see play. I see it differently.

I believe the best are better than you think. When Tom Brady was just "winning games" early in his career I always maintained that he "could" put up better stats if he had to, but that's not what was being asked of him by Bellicheck. His team would jump out to a lead early, he'd protect it, run the ball, throw short stuff, and have the team play defense. He was asked to be "efficient, limit the number of possessions the other team's offense would get to shorten the game instead of putting up stats. If your team is up by 14 points, if you eat up a lot of clock on offense you are limiting the number of chances the other team gets. If you can score a TD or FG that's a bonus. Brady was very efficient early in his career, won a lot of games but didn't have the stats. He didn't put up big stats but he didn't have great talent around him and he was always limiting the number of possessions his opponents got.

Peyton's career was the exact opposite. He put up big stats early in his career, but it didn't get the Colts anywhere because while he might put up 300+ yards every Sunday, his defense was gassed by the end of the game. If he was playing another team with a QB that could score in the 2 min drill it basically came down to whoever had the ball last won the Colts games, the Colts or their opponents. Maybe 5 years or so ago the Colts started trying to play more "efficient" on offense and it kept the defense fresher. Would you rather have the Colts score on 6/10 offensive drives in a game or would you rather have them score on 7/15 drives in a game? If you shorten the game and are "efficient" it means your opponent has to be even more efficient.

Last year I was slamming the table saying that Peyton Manning was easily the MVP and actually underrated which is difficult considering most people consider you among the best in the game. He had no running game at all, no defense, and his receivers were injured. He seriously had one of the 5 worst offensive lines in the game but he got rid of the ball so darn fast. He had no running game at all and he was throwing passes to Jacob freaking Tammie! He had every excuse in the world but he made it work. If any other QB had that to work with it wouldn't have worked at all but Manning got them to the playoffs. The Colts are seriously deficient in talent and it showed this year. It also showed who the real coach of the Colts was ( HINT: Not Dungy or Caldwell). To call for Chris Johnson or anybody else for MVP last year was a complete joke. To give Dungy credit for the SB or Caldwell credit for "13-0" is a complete joke. You take Manning away from them and they aren't so "genius" anymore.

The two most underrated players in the NFL are as I've said for a couple of years Jay Cutler and Eli Manning. No it's not Navarro Bowman or Joe Hadden or anybody playing for an unpopular team The most underrated players in the NFL are right under your nose. I say this because people are finally waking up to the fact that Eli and Cutler are underrated.

Jay Cutler has put up stats in his career before. You give him a good offensive line, Brandon Marshall, a running game, a coach and he put up big numbers even at the beginning of his career.

NOBODY would succeed with one of the worst offensive lines in the game and one of the worst WR cores in the game. Jay Cutler has been surrounded by crap. Johnny Knox is NOT a good receiver. Devin Hester is NOT a good WR. Too often the offensive line is instantly blamed for a highly sacked QB but in Cutler's case it's 95% attributable to the poor line and NOT Cutler holding onto the ball too long. The reason why his stats sucked a couple of years ago is because he's such a competitor. He puts the ball where the WR is supposed to go but Johnny Knox/Hester an the others don't know how the play the position. Basically Cutler would rather go down swinging and take a chance and that's killed his stats, but make no mistake, the only reason he does that is because he's surrounded by crap and wants to win that bad.

I guarantee you if you gave Jay Cutler...
Dez Bryant/Miles Austin/Jason Witten/L.Robinson/an offensive line/D. Murray
Roddy White/Julio Jones/Tony Gonzalez/Harry Douglas/an offensive line/Michael Turner
His stats would be MUCH MUCH better. Not even guys that are playmakers, just give him guys that do what they are supposed to do! The offense would be more efficient, his stats would greatly greatly improve and instead of calling him a turnover machine you'd be talking about his toughness/rocket arm/mobility etc. Instead he has one of the top 5 worse offensive talents around him and most people think he's average-ish. I'd also guarantee you that if put Matt Ryan or Tony Romo on the Bears they wouldn't even look close to as good as Cutler has been. No way in hell those teams would go to the NFC championship games, they wouldn't even make the playoffs! Harry Douglas and Laurent Robinson are the 4th best pass catchers on their respective offenses, where would they rank on the Bears? They'd both be the best guy Cutler has to throw to.

Same thing with Eli Manning.
He runs one of the best 2 min drills in the league...
He has NOT had the talent around him on offense.

Remember when the Giants were screwed they lost Tiki Barber and his 1800 yards total offense? The Giants won the superbowl when he left! Other people stepped up because ELI is the real reason why that offense works. He calls all the plays and puts his guys in position to succeed like a leader. People are so fooled by his weak demeanor that they fail to objectively rate the guy.
Remember when losing Plax or Shockey would kill the Giants? They were 13-3 #1 seed following the SB year. Kevin Boss went from being an obscure late round draft pick into a formitable tight end. The Giants have had receivers step up too. Steve Smith was just a "slow possession receiver" that made the pro bowl. He's done nothing with Mike Vick and the Eagles and in fact even Maclin/Jackson regressed under Vick/Young. What has Kevin Boss done in Oakland? What has Derick Ward done in Tampa? How bad did it hurt the Giants when they lost Barber/Plax/Shockey/Toomer/Boss/Ward/Lineman etc?

Mario Manningham is NOT a very good wr. He runs extremely poor routes and drops far too many balls but most people don't know how poor of a wr he is.
Victor Cruz came out of nowhere. Do you think he'd have the same success on other NFL teams? The guy wouldn't even get to play for most teams nevermind thrive.
Jake Ballard was a college blocking TE that wasn't even drafted, now he's turned into an "average starting TE". Has Eli ever not had a TE?
The offensive line is NOT very good. The Giants retooled their offensive line and can't run the ball. They had a backup center in last night, kicked their LG out to LT to block D.Ware. They rank 30 or 31 running the ball. No running game puts you in a lot of 3rd and longs and it puts a lot of pressure on your QB. Especially when he doesn't have time to throw... He's throwing a a college blocking TE, an undrafted Victor Cruz, and his running backs can't catch. Eli Manning has more 20+ yard completions than anybody in the league. ANYBODY. Aaron Rodgers/Drew Brees/Tom Brady included. Eli has never had RB's who can catch so he doesn't get all those dink/dunk yards Mcnabb/Brady always got throwing all those screens. Eli Manning throws downfield more than any QB in the league. That's part of the reason why he has a lower completion percentage and more picks ( many off tipped balls). It also makes the Giants offense harder to defend. Defenses can't creep up because he DOES throw downfield. I guarantee you if Mcnabb was throwing more intermediate passes he wouldn't have such a high career completion percentage, the guy was known for throwing intermediate passes at guys feet!

You take Eli off the Giants and replace him with an "AVERAGE starting QB" and the team is 2-8 or 3-7 at best. Quick, put Joe Flacco on the Giants and what's their record? They've had to rally in the 4th quarter to win 6 of their games. If Eli wasn't so good at the 2 min drill ( not just in the 4th Q) but at the end of the half they'd be much worse.

Eli Manning is a pro at film study. He didn't get sacked at all last night despite the heavy pressure because he studies film religiously. He doesn't get injured either which is a huge plus.

People never realized his value in the running game. Him calling audibles to run more favorable plays can't be easily quantified but its there. Remember last night when dallas had a stacked blitz to the Giants Right and Eli ran a running play right at the blitz? Cris Collingworth correctly pointed out that he "knew" the blitz was a fake and that the dallas safety and linebacker would bail. Eli didn't fall for the trick and the running play was the correct call. So how much of a benefit is it when your QB will run the ball when it's favorable and audible to a pass when he sees 8 in the box? It increases the odds of winning. Eli has never been a stat guy until he's had to be. In the past he's been more than happy to throw for 180 yards and hand the ball off to his RB's to protect the lead and shorten the games. When he has to throw for 300+ yards he can.

and finally nobody has suffered from more dropped balls and tipped passes INTs than Eli in the past. It's been comical. His receivers have screwed him over more than any QB I could remember. It hasn't happened this year but I guarantee you that if you gave Eli Manning Dez Bryand/Miles Austin/Jason Witten/an offensive line and you gave Tony Romo the Giants supporting cast it wouldn't even be close.

[GamblerSpirit]

It's obviously Eli because Eli won something.

[Serbone]

Agree, both are underrated though Eli is getting the respect he deserves this yr in a tough situation. Eli has some good WR's and RB's but his OL is weak and he got rid of the ball vs Dallas very well and accurate.
But Cutler is still not recognized, he took a bad hit publictiy wise when he came out of the playoff game last yr. Forte is a great RB but his receivers are below par and OL is also weak. Cutler is the one who is more underrated.

[C-Gold]

Serbone-

I've been pointing this crap out with Eli for YEARS and people are finally coming around. You say he has good WRs? I'll give you Hackeem Nicks but who else? Mario Manningham might have some decent stats but he's NOT even an average WR. He runs horrible routes and can't catch. Victor Cruz was unheard of before this year. He wouldn't have stats anywhere like he has on any other NFL team. How about Jay Ballard? A rookie blocking TE? You see how poor Eli's line was but he still makes it work, 400 passing yards on the road in the dramatic comeback. I finally saw people sticking up for him this year. never before.

I agree Cutler is more underrated at this time. It might take a couple years but eventually this guy will have some talent to play with. Seriously, if Laurent Robinson or Harry Douglas were on the Bears they'd both be his best WR and they are the 4th best targets for their respective teams. What about Lance Moore? He's an afterthought for the Saints offense but he's better than anybody Cutler is throwing to. Shows you how bad his WR's are and how bad his line is.

Then one year Cutler will finally have a decent team and his stats will drastically improve. More TD's, More yards. less INTs, higher completion %. People will say WOW, Cutler really got better this year... NO NO NO. Cutler is better, it's the crap heap of an offense around him and he's always stuck catching the blame. You give him Andrew Johnson/Jacoby Jones/Owen Daniels/a line/a RB and a coach and watch him succeed. Give him Dez/Witten/Miles/Robinson, give him Calvin Johnson/Burleson/Titus/Scheffler/Pettigrew and watch what happens. Look at what he did in Denver in his first couple years! He didn't regress, his team regressed big time.

Just look at this.
Bears lose - It's always Cutler's fault or Lovie's fault.
Giants lose - It's always Eli Manning's fault or Coughlins fault.

If Josh Freeman loses it's his "teams" fault, he has no talent around him.
When Michael Vick lost in Atlanta it was Roddy White and his shitty receivers fault, his line's fault, his coaches fault
When Vick loses in Philly it's Andy Reid's fault, the line's fault etc.
If Matt Stafford losses it's his line's fault
When Sam Bradford losses it's his receivers fault
When David Carr was a shitty Texan QB it was always his line's fault
If Jason Campbell losses it's his receivers fault, coaches fault etc.

[C-Gold]

The Giants came out flat today and Eli's stat sheet sucked. But did he really play bad?

- Hakeem Nicks dropped an easy touchdown. He was 5 yards past the defender, Eli put the ball right there and he dropped it.
- Nicks dropped about 2-3 other balls today in one of his worst games as a pro
- Cruz dropped 2 balls that came to my head
- Eli had a deflected pass that should have been a catch that was intercepted by Atogwe
- Manningham ran the wrong route in the end zone, result ---> INT for Eli. At least Aikman pointed it out on TV
Mario Manningham sucks. The guy runs wrong routes all the time, sloppy routes, drops too many balls. Does that effect his stats or Eli's? Joe Buck was about to get into his typical Eli bashing but Aikman pointed out that the receivers were playing awful.
- TD pass called back to the 1 yard line
The blocking wasn't very good today either.

So when ESPN runs through the highlights of course Eli gets the blame because the giants came out flat but he did what he was supposed to do and his receivers played awful games with Manningham, Nicks, and Cruz all making big mistakes and playing sloppy. If his receivers did what they were supposed to do maybe instead of 0TD and 3INT 257 yards he would have had 2 or 3 TD and 0 or 1 INT and 300+ yards in a totally different game.

That's the point when the QB plays well but the guys around him suck the QB is still tainted with crappy stats. He plays the exact same game with guys that can catch and he looks like the hero.

[C-Gold]

Most 4th Quarter TD passes in NFL history.
6th game winning 4th quarter drives.

NOW Eli Manning is finally getting the credit he deserves. I've been saying it for about 5 years now and people finally woke up to realize how good this guy is. Even 7 weeks ago you'd find people who thought Romo or Vick or Matt Stafford or Cam Newton deserved the pro bowl or were better than Manning. None of those other guys have a title.

Cash in on those Giants futures!!!