Eli Manning not getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot is not as much of a surprise as many take it as, given the stiff competition – but to Gio, the biggest surprise was how far away Eli actually was for being a finalist!
“Giants fans are mostly angry, I would believe, that Eli Manning is not getting in on the first ballot, and it wasn't even the first ballot really that was the big story – it was that he wasn't even in the top 10 of votes last night,” Gio said. “Apparently, lots of writers didn’t believe Eli Manning was close to being a Hall of Famer this time around. Will he get in eventually? Probably, but I was surprised that he wasn't even close.”
Boomer has voted for AP All-Pro and NFL Awards in the past for nearly a quarter-century, so he knows what honors like that means – and he told a story about how he once voted a young Richard Sherman for All-Pro and got a lot of flack (and we know who was right in the end there).
The point to him is it’s easy to do that if you take your vote and job seriously, which is why he was baffled by another QB highlight from NFL Honors: Josh Allen winning MVP.
“One of the long-standing unwritten rules is if you are the first team All-Pro, then you are going to be in line for honors after it's all said and done with – Lamar Jackson was far and away voted the All-Pro QB, but Josh Allen won the MVP vote,” Boomer said. “The same people vote on both, and they're two different ballots, and I find that very interesting.”
It’s all about arguing for great players in the end, for both MVP and the Hall of Fame, but being on the first ballot for the latter means a lot...which is why Boomer and Gio are wondering why Eli wasn’t it?
“I thought he was going to be because of the magical Super Bowl runs, and I understand all the other numbers; I mean, we have relitigated Eli Manning's career ad nauseam on this radio station and this show, so I’m fully aware,” Gio said. “But, I still thought because he's a Manning, because of the two Super Bowl MVPs and the playoff runs, that he would get in first-ballot. I don’t go crazy about these things, but the thing that was interesting to me is there were 10 guys ahead of him. He didn’t miss out and was like on the outside looking in on the doorstep, he wasn’t close!”
“Maybe there's some Manning fatigue there, I don’t know,” Boomer replied. “I will say congratulations, there’s only four guys going in, so maybe they just want to keep the program short this year. Every single one of them are worthy of it, it’s just unfortunate that Eli Manning didn’t get in on the first ballot.”