Normally each year we get five inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so when Rich Eisen listed four players and then there felt like a pregnant pause during the NFL<\/a> Honors show on Thursday night, it was obvious Eli Manning<\/a> would be the next name called. The pregnant pause turned into an announcement that the Pro Football Hall of Fame class was complete<\/a><\/span> and, to everyone’s shock, Manning’s name wasn’t called.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both he and Luke Kuechly<\/a> were pretty shocking omissions, even if it was their first time on the ballot. We’ve seen weird things before, like the voters making Terrell Owens wait longer than a single minute to get into Canton.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Eli Manning — perhaps you recognize his last name — not getting in was a shock to anyone watching.\u00a0<\/p>\n The case against Manning isn’t that<\/em> hard if you want to focus on regular-season production, where the former Ole Miss standout was largely average relative to the great quarterbacks who played the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manning never led the NFL in a single standard regular-season category … other than interceptions, which he led the league in three different times (20 picks in 2007, 25 in 2010 and 27 in 2013). He completed just a hair over 60% of his 8,119 pass attempts over the course of his career and averaged a very pedestrian 3,564 yards per season, along a very “meh” average of just 23 touchdowns to 15 interceptions per season.<\/p>\n But the case FOR Manning is easy, too. He won two Super Bowls and did it in pretty remarkable and impossible-to-forget fashion. First, he outdueled Tom Brady<\/a> and the undefeated Patriots<\/a> in 2007, being part of “The Helmet Catch<\/a>” to David Tyree, escaping pressure and heaving the ball down the field in one of the most memorable moments in NFL history.<\/p>\n Even if you don’t want to give him credit for that bit of luck, Manning to Mario Manningham<\/a> in the second of his Super Bowl<\/a> wins, again against Tom Brady and the Patriots in 2011, was one of the best throws you’ll ever see. I was in the stadium, on the same side the throw was completed, and it’s etched into my brain seeing Manningham toe-tap on the sideline as Manning made an impossible throw to set up the Giants<\/a> go-ahead score.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manning threw nine interceptions in the playoffs, but three of those came in his first playoff game. Take that game away and his playoff stats are pretty incredible: 8-3 record, 2,815 yards, 18 touchdowns and nine interceptions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame Class: Eli Manning a shocking snub from Canton during NFL Honors<\/p>\n \n Will Brinson <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Whether it’s being “not Peyton” or whether it’s keeping some of the bad playoff games in or whether it’s the pedestrian regular-season numbers, there was clearly enough to work against Manning for the voters to keep him off the first ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n As someone who firmly believes Manning is the third best quarterback of the 2004 NFL Draft<\/a>, behind Philip Rivers<\/a> and Ben Roethlisberger<\/a>, he just happened to land on a franchise that put together some great playoff runs and didn’t have to see Brady until the end game, I’m OK with the decision.<\/p>\n But the bottom line is that it’s a shocking result given the Manning family name, and the family’s place in the hierarchy amongst NFL blue bloods.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Football](\"https:\/\/sportshub.cbsistatic.com\/i\/2025\/02\/07\/5eef3acc-fb37-4e02-bec7-b6e66f30c344\/eli-manning.jpg\")
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