(Thanks to my man Rich Eisen for the post title.)

Who would have thought Eli would be playing in the conference championship and not Peyton? I felt pretty good about Eli making it, but a Colts loss wasn’t even imaginable for me. I cannot believe that a veteran team like the Colts played such a bad game. The defense was horrendous and Peyton Manning looked more like a slightly above average QB rather than a future Hall of Famer. Yes, his box score looks great (400 yards, 2 TDs), but two costly interceptions in the redzone doomed the Colts, especially on a night where the defense was subpar to say the least. The Colts beat themselves.

Eli Manning, on the other hand, was very efficient and most importantly, he had 0 turnovers. He carefully orchestrated a methodical offensive approach that made the most of the limited opportunities that the Dallas Cowboys gave them. The Boys managed to keep the ball for almost a whole quarter’s length of time longer than the Giants.

Two critical play calls late in both games seemed to nix the Colts and Cowboys comeback attempts. The Colts had a chance to pickup a first down in their next to last offensive possession, but Peyton chose to go for the win. And shockingly, the chosen one, Jason Garrett, called a play on 4th down that sent all of the WRs into the endzone and no one to the first down marker. Thus, Romo had no choice but to throw the ball into double coverage.

Peyton has been in the spotlight very often during his career. It’ll be interesting to see him being Eli’s biggest cheerleader rather than visa versa. Good Luck Eli.