New York Giants Official Website

  QB Bond Extends Beyond Talent
   By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -NFL quarterbacks are both fierce competitors and members of an exclusive club. They are the only ones who can fully understand the demands, pressures, challenges and rewards in the most difficult position to play in professional sports. For those reasons, quarterbacks enjoy commiserating with each other, even if they are not otherwise close.

Eli Manning and Philip Rivers are two such quarterbacks. But their bond extends beyond talent, success and relating to each other's burden. They were two of the top four players selected in the 2004 NFL draft, Manning No. 1 by the San Diego Chargers and Rivers three spots later by the Giants. The two teams then engineered a trade, with the Giants sending Rivers, their third-round choice that year and first and fifth-round picks in the 2005 draft to the Chargers for Manning, who had said he didn't want to play in San Diego.

The deal gave each team the quarterback it coveted and guaranteed that comparisons of the players' statistics and fortunes would be made for as long as they played. On Sunday, Manning and Rivers will start in the same game for the first time when the 5-3 Giants host the 4-3 Chargers in Giants Stadium.

As expected, Manning downplayed the quarterback confrontation.

"I don't get into playing other quarterbacks," Manning said. "I have to worry about San Diego's defense. Their offense is powerful and they score points and we have to do a good job offensively to try and keep them off the field. Don't give their offense good field position and easy points. My focus is on the defense of San Diego."

Rivers also tried to minimize the matchup with Manning but conceded the circumstances that led them to their respective teams give this game more juice than a customary interconference game.

"I never felt a tie or a bond with the Giants in any way or that, 'I thought you wanted me and now you are trading me away,'" Phillips said. "There was never anything like that. Again, I know it wasn't just a straight trade - me for Eli or vice versa. There were some very key picks and players involved in what the Chargers were able to acquire and, honestly, players that have had a huge impact over this past six years and continue to have. So I'm sure both teams are happy the way it worked out.

"But ... there is no hard feeling. I think it is fun, however, anytime you compete against - obviously I have to worry about that Giant defense and playing and managing the football game. But certainly any time you are going against a team led by a quarterback regardless of whether you are linked or not - but a guy the caliber of Eli, it is always fun. And then I think throw in the fact, as we have been discussing - you are linked in that way. It does make for some nice - any additional sidebar things that you enjoy about a game - just being part of it - it definitely adds to it."

Rivers vividly recalls the events of April 24, 2004.

"I was right there at my mom and dad's house in Raleigh," he said. "I had felt all along it was going to be the Chargers or the Steelers. I had had a workout with New York. They came to Raleigh - Coach (Tom) Coughlin -- and we had a workout. But you know when you feel a team's interest and really it was the other two teams, San Diego and Pittsburgh, I felt the strongest interest from. The Chargers took Eli first and then I was waiting - you are wondering what is going to happen, if they are going to make a move. When the Giants took me I kind of had a feeling, both just from what had gone on in the past few months and what agent Jimmy Sexton had said about hey, 'You may not be a Giant very long, but if it doesn't work out, I think they obviously will be content if they end up having to keep you.' But I had never spoken to one person from the Giants front office, so I knew something was up. So as the next half-hour, hour, took its course - obviously we know what happened after that."

Both the Giants and Chargers are very happy with their quarterbacks. Manning was promoted to the first team with seven games remaining in his rookie season and has since started every game - 86 in a row, including seven in the postseason. His record is 47-32 in the regular season and 4-3 in the playoffs. In 2007, his cool leadership and pinpoint passing helped lead the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XLII. The Giants have earned four consecutive postseason berths and won last year's NFC East title with Manning at the helm.

"(He is) certainly a heck of a quarterback and a player," Rivers said. "And obviously he is still an ascending player. He has obviously accomplished a lot already, but seems to still improve year to year."

Rivers threw only 30 passes his first two seasons while playing behind Drew Brees. He took over the top job in 2006 and has since started every game - 55 in the regular season and six in the playoffs. He is 37-18 in the regular season and 3-3 in the postseason. The Chargers won the last three AFC West titles. In 2008, Rivers led the NFL with a 105.5 passer rating.

Manning and Rivers first met when they were collegiate players (Manning at Mississippi and Rivers at North Carolina State) and Rivers worked as an instructor at the camp for quarterbacks and receivers the Manning family runs each year in Louisiana.

"I believe it was for my senior year in college - or our senior year," Rivers said. "It was really a treat to go down there and work around a bunch of pro quarterbacks and college quarterbacks and players. And it is really a first-class camp they run down there. Being around Peyton and Eli was fun. It was fun just up close seeing those guys throw and work and just getting to know them a little bit. It was a good. The first thing that stood out for me - Eli - the first thing I remember him telling myself was, 'Man, could he really throw it.' Obviously, that is a broad statement, but it just flies out of his hand. He can really throw it and it was, again, a treat to just to work with a handful of those guys."

The two quarterbacks have since remained friendly. They don't talk or email each other regularly. But they share the bond of being starting quarterbacks in the NFL, plus the unusual circumstance of having been traded for each other.

"I think all quarterbacks have a little (bond) - it's a fraternity between quarterbacks," Manning said. "I have known Philip since college when we did some things together. He is a great player, great person and we always kind of keep up through texts over the years."

"I wouldn't say we are close," Rivers said. "But, yeah, we have exchanged a few texts. I wanted to tell him congratulations on the win (in) the Super Bowl. And there have been a few other texts here back and forth more or less wishing good luck or congratulations on a win or something of that nature. But certainly we are intertwined somewhat based on that draft day trade and how that all unfolded. I would like to think it has worked out for both of us. You are always going to be linked in some ways to guys in your draft class, maybe even more so because of how that went down."

The game Sunday is important for both teams. The Giants, who have lost three games in a row, are a half-game behind Dallas and Philadelphia in the NFC East, while San Diego trails Denver by two games in the AFC West. That is one reason they have relatively little interest in their individual matchup.

"This is the Giants versus San Diego," Manning said. "It is about us getting back on track and getting that winning feeling again. I think that is my only concern. I think that (the trade) is kind of in the past."

"I have been asked multiple times, 'Do you catch them at a good time or a bad time' because they have lost three in a row," Rivers said. "I think each week is a new week. Obviously, any time you have to come to New York to their place to play in a big game for both teams - both teams are going to strive to be at their best."

So will their quarterbacks.

NOTES

*The Giants lead the NFL with 38 plays, 32 passes and six runs, of 20 or more yards. But nine turnovers - including one on special teams - in the last three games has negated much of their progress.

"I wish there was one thing (to correct with turnovers)," offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "It would make it so much easier. You have to be really conscious of how important that ball is. Right now we are doing so many good things, if you can just stop doing some of those bad things, we are going to be difficult to contend with. We are leading the league in big plays, big pass plays over 20, we're doing a lot of good things, now just be more consistent. Certainly that consistency expresses itself in cutting down on mistakes, and the biggest mistake of all is when you turn it over."

*Defensively, the Giants are allowing too many big plays - 21 passes and 10 runs of at least 20 yards, including three last week in Philadelphia. Coordinator Bill Sheridan was asked if the long plays are due more to mental or physical breakdowns.

"To me, it has been more physical," Sheridan said. "It isn't like the guys are busting the defense, we're just turning guys loose. Some of them have been outstanding plays by the offense. I'd say it is just more on individual plays, maybe an individual guy either not able or executing particularly well on that particular play. It isn't like guys are not executing the defense, one guy is running one defense and some guy is running something else, that has not been the norm, no."

*No change on the Giants' injury report. Michael Boley (knee) and Chris Canty (calf) suffered no setbacks and again worked on a limited basis. "They did well," Tom Coughlin said. "They probably did ... a little more. They are basically (working) 50 percent (of the plays), but they are getting their reps and they are running."

Wide receivers Mario Manningham (shoulder) and Sinorice Moss (foot) and tight end Kevin Boss (ankle) were also limited. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw (ankle/foot) and cornerback Aaron Ross (hamstring) did not practice.

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