Apparently their NFL peers do not think much of New York's quarterbacks.
Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets and Eli Manning of the New York Giants were ranked among the league's most overrated players in a Sports Illustrated player poll that will appear in this week's issue of the magazine.
Sports Illustrated polled 239 players, and Sanchez tied with Albert Haynesworth of Washington, gathering 5% of the vote. Manning was next, with 4% of the vote.
The most overrated player was Terrell Owens of Cincinnati, who got 14% of the vote. The poll was taken in the preseason.
Let's look at Sanchez and Manning individually. Are the really overrated.?
Manning is in his seventh year in the league, has a Super Bowl MVP, had the best season of his career in 2009 and is currently sporting the best completion percentage of his career. Ralph Vacchiano says Eli's biggest crime, simply, is that he has the last name of Manning and he is not as good as his brother, Peyton.
For Manning, the problem is this: He's no Peyton, and he probably never will be. Some consider that to be a major crime. No matter what he does, he has to constantly hear criticism - like he did last week from former Giants safety C.C. Brown, of all people - that he's too erratic.
All of that begs this question: If a player who may someday be remembered as the greatest quarterback in the history of one of the NFL's oldest franchises, who pulled off one of the greatest Super Bowl comebacks ever, who has been to the playoffs four times in six seasons, and who has won 58 of his 100 starts - including a 4-3 mark in the playoffs - is overrated, how absurdly high are the expectations?
And besides trading places with his brother, Freaky Friday style, what can he ever do to meet them?
The answer can be found in the history of the SI poll. Four years ago, before he had really done anything, Manning was rated fourth in the "overrated" poll with 7% of the vote. Two years later - after his Super Bowl triumph - Manning's peers rated him the second most overrated quarterback with a startling 10% of the vote.
Nothing, it seems, for the youngest Manning will ever be good enough.
Vacchiano might be biased when it comes to Manning. After all, RV has written a book about him so Eli has earned him some cash. He is right, though. Compared to his brother, Eli will never hold up. Forget his last name, and you have to look at the guy and realize he is pretty darn good. That should be good enough.
As for Sanchez, I didn't know he was that highly rated to begin with. The guy was an erratic rookie last season whose team used a terrific defense and good running game to get to the playoffs. He's still learning the position, but he did not throw an interception this season until Week 6.
The guy has done his job well. I'm not sure how he can be overrated, when I don't know of anyone who was putting him in that upper echelon of quarterbacks yet, anyway.