Oh, Brother, What a Day

Afternoon of Surprises Leaves Eli Manning in Spotlight, and Peyton Out

IRVING, Tex., Jan. 13 -- As she stood at the end of a dirty Texas Stadium tunnel Sunday night, the matriarch of football's first family didn't know whether to giggle or weep. Olivia Manning had just slipped inside a makeshift interview room outside the New York Giants' locker room and beamed as her youngest son, Eli, basked in the biggest victory of his life. Afterward, he hugged her. She told him he had been wonderful.

Then came the awkward moment, with Eli's fiancee by her side and stadium workers shoving past with dollies of equipment, as she confronted a flood of emotions: Joy for Eli and the Giants' 21-17 victory over Dallas in the second round of the playoffs putting him a win from the Super Bowl and anguish for her son Peyton, the Indianapolis Colts' quarterback whose Super Bowl dreams died in a loss earlier in the day to San Diego.

Elation and despair.

She smiled and then placed her hand on her chest.

"I have a heavy heart for Peyton but I am proud of Eli," she said.

These must be tormenting days for the family that is the closest thing to Football Camelot. Their sons are fabulously wealthy, the franchise players of 1/16th of the NFL, living in the playoffs every season now. But watching one win when the other loses takes its toll.

Sunday there was a juxtaposition of the family football stars. Peyton Manning, 31, Super Bowl champion last season, the darling of American corporate advertising, had to make the long, dreary walk off a postseason field while Eli -- always the little brother at 27 -- was mobbed at the center of the Texas Stadium turf, his season living another week. Suddenly Eli will be the talk of America, the Manning brother destined for big things while Peyton heads into offseason oblivion.

Olivia Manning understood this Sunday night, probably better than anyone who squeezed through that tiny tunnel outside the Giants' locker room. She has lived it for years, especially these last four seasons since Eli was drafted and she had two NFL quarterbacks in the family.

The realization left her a bit melancholy as she stood at the tunnel's entrance until she remembered something someone told her after last year's Super Bowl while Peyton still basked in the postgame celebration.

"It's Eli's turn now," the person said.

She repeated the words and started to laugh.

"So maybe it is," she said.

Inside the locker room behind her there was a sense that she might be right. The Giants have endured Eli's growing pains for years, the 2004 first-round pick struggling to establish himself in the glare of the nation's largest media market. Every promising moment was diminished by an interception or a badly thrown pass. While Peyton thrived with the Colts, the leader from the first day, Eli was seen as a junior version of the real thing, a wide-eyed kid, overwhelmed by the superstars in his locker room.

By the start of the season the criticism had reached a crescendo with comments made by former teammate Tiki Barber questioning his leadership. But in the last few weeks, Eli has thrived, nearly leading the Giants to a victory over the undefeated New England Patriots on the season's last weekend and now managing two playoff wins -- first in Tampa and now at Dallas.

Sunday's performance, while not overwhelming (12 for 18 for 163 yards and two touchdowns) was nonetheless efficient and more than anything that's what the Giants wanted from Eli. Efficiency. Sunday, he took New York down the field in 46 seconds to score a touchdown just before halftime, negating a back-breaking 10-minute, 28-second Cowboys scoring drive. Then in the third quarter, after Dallas scored again, he led the Giants to what became the winning touchdown.

"That was all the quarterback," said Giants president and co-owner John Mara, who has watched uncomfortably as Eli endured the criticism.

"We knew the potential was there," Mara said. "We saw it in college. We saw it at times here. It was just a matter of getting it out of him."

He said he believes Eli has "grown up a little," but also is convinced the sudden cohesion of the Giants' once-tenuous offensive line has eased the younger Manning's development. And now everything has come together in a fantastic flash.

In Indianapolis on Sunday, with the quarterbacks' father Archie watching, Peyton's passing yardage, 402 yards, overwhelmed Eli's. But Eli was moving on. And for the first time everything was suddenly about him. He said Peyton sent him a text message after the game congratulating him and to get the Patriots -- suggesting the Giants will be in the Super Bowl.

But that was for another day. Sunday night Olivia Manning stood in the tunnel at Texas Stadium -- the family member sent to hostile territory, she joked, from the family's home in New Orleans -- and glowed about Eli.

In the Manning football world, where their sons' stock rises and falls with every turn of the football season, Eli Manning was on top.

Staff writer Mark Maske contributed to this report from Indianapolis.