50 Fun Facts About Eli Manning

Which team drafted Eli Manning first overall in 2004 after he said he would not play there?

The San Diego Chargers picked him anyway, then dealt him to the New York Giants during the draft for another rookie quarterback and three picks.

Which previously unbeaten team did Eli Manning's Giants upset 17–14 in Super Bowl XLII?

The New England Patriots had been the first team to win all 16 regular-season games and were heavy favorites. Manning's late drive ended the perfect season.

Which receiver pinned an Eli Manning pass to his helmet on the winning drive of Super Bowl XLII?

David Tyree made the grab after Manning slipped away from several pass rushers on third-and-5, a play remembered ever since as the Helmet Catch.

Eli Manning played college football for which team, where his father Archie was already a folk hero?

Ole Miss Rebels fans got 81 touchdown passes from him and, in his senior year, the school's first ten-win season since 1971.

Which long-running TV show did Eli Manning host in May 2012, months after winning Super Bowl XLVI?

Saturday Night Live gave him the twentieth episode of its 37th season, with Rihanna as the musical guest.

Eli Manning was born in which city, where he later starred at Isidore Newman School?

New Orleans is where he threw for a school-record 7,389 yards in high school, a mark that stood until 2022.

Which head coach won two Super Bowls with Eli Manning before stepping down after the 2015 season?

Tom Coughlin coached him for 12 seasons and backed him in 2011, when Manning was criticized for calling himself an elite quarterback.

Eli Manning won Super Bowl XLVI in the home stadium of which team, then his brother Peyton's?

The Indianapolis Colts play at Lucas Oil Stadium. The brothers never met in a Super Bowl, though Peyton won all three of their regular-season games.

Eli Manning went undercover as walk-on Chad Powers at which university's football tryouts in 2022?

Penn State hosted the stunt for a television project, and it was later expanded into a scripted Hulu series named after the character.

In a 2011 radio interview, Eli Manning put himself in the same elite class as which quarterback?

Tom Brady was the name host Michael Kay put to him, and the answer brought criticism because Manning had thrown 25 interceptions the season before.

Which quarterback did the Giants draft in 2004 and trade away the same day to land Eli Manning?

Philip Rivers went the other way along with three draft picks, one of which was used on kicker Nate Kaeding.

Which member of the Manning family broke Eli Manning's high school passing record in 2022?

Arch is his nephew, and he passed the 7,389-yard mark at the same school 24 years after his uncle's last season there.

Eli Manning and his brother Peyton began hosting the Manningcast in 2021 for which broadcaster?

ESPN ran it as an alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football, with the brothers talking to celebrity guests while they watched.

Eli Manning and Larry Fitzgerald were named the first co-winners in a decade of which NFL award?

Walter Payton Man of the Year recognizes work off the field; Manning had led a five-year campaign to build children's clinics that carry his name.

Which late-night host welcomed Eli Manning as a guest on the Wednesday after Super Bowl XLII?

David Letterman taped the Late Show in Manhattan, a short trip for the Giants quarterback three days after the win in Arizona.

Eli Manning and brother Peyton helped deliver 30,000 pounds of relief supplies after which 2005 hurricane?

Katrina had flooded the city where the brothers grew up, and their shipment included water, Gatorade, baby formula and pillows.

Eli Manning and his brother Peyton co-starred in commercials for NFLShop.com and which snack brand?

Oreo cast the brothers together, while Eli's own sponsors over the years have included a watchmaker, a car dealer group and an insurer.

Which actor plays the title role in Chad Powers, the 2025 Hulu series based on an Eli Manning sketch?

Glen Powell took the part that Manning had first played in disguise at a real college tryout three years earlier.

Which rookie caught an Eli Manning touchdown pass one-handed on Sunday Night Football in 2014?

Odell Beckham Jr. made the grab while falling backwards, and pundits and fellow athletes called it the greatest catch ever made.

Which receiver caught Eli Manning's record-tying 99-yard touchdown pass against the Jets in 2011?

Victor Cruz went the length of the field in a late-season win over the crosstown Jets, part of his franchise-record 1,536 receiving yards that year.

Which receiver caught Eli Manning's winning touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in Super Bowl XLII?

Plaxico Burress scored from 13 yards out four plays after the famous third-down escape, capping a 12-play, 83-yard drive.

Eli Manning's 35 touchdown passes in 2015 fell one short of which quarterback's Giants season record?

Y. A. Tittle's 36 stayed the Giants record, though Manning's 35 were a career high and tied for second among NFL quarterbacks that year.

Which running back reluctantly fell across the goal line to win Super Bowl XLVI for Eli Manning?

Ahmad Bradshaw was meant to stop short so the Giants could run down the clock, but the defense stepped aside and his momentum carried him in.

Which team did Eli Manning's Giants beat in overtime in the bitterly cold 2007 NFC Championship Game?

Green Bay Packers fans sat through one of the coldest postseason games in NFL history, and the 23–20 result sent the Giants to their first Super Bowl in seven years.

Eli Manning was sacked six times but beat which team in overtime in the 2011 NFC Championship Game?

San Francisco 49ers defenders hit him all game, yet he completed a franchise playoff-record 32 passes in the 20–17 win.

Eli Manning ran in the first NFL regular-season touchdown scored outside North America in which city?

London hosted the Giants and Dolphins at a rain-soaked Wembley Stadium in 2007, where Manning passed for only 59 yards but scored on a 10-yard run.

Which veteran quarterback did rookie Eli Manning replace as the Giants' starter in November 2004?

Kurt Warner came back in relief a few weeks later, when Manning was benched with a 0.0 passer rating, then left the Giants after the season.

Which quarterback started in place of Eli Manning in 2017, ending his streak of 210 consecutive starts?

Geno Smith got one start: the move caused a backlash from former Giants, the head coach was fired within days, and Manning was starting again the next week.

Which first-round rookie replaced Eli Manning as the Giants' starting quarterback in Week 3 of 2019?

Daniel Jones was drafted that spring, and Manning was told of the pick as it was being made; an injury to the rookie later gave Manning two farewell starts.

When Eli Manning's 210 straight starts ended in 2017, which quarterback's 297 was the only longer streak?

Brett Favre started 297 in a row. Manning turned down an offer to start one more game just to extend his own run, saying that would tarnish it.

Whose Giants career passing-yardage record, built over 14 seasons, did Eli Manning break in 2013?

Phil Simms retired with 33,462 yards. Manning finished with 57,023 and was also the first Giants quarterback since him to be picked for a Pro Bowl.

Which tight end caught Eli Manning's first NFL touchdown pass, a six-yard throw against Atlanta in 2004?

Jeremy Shockey scored in the third quarter of Manning's first start. The rookie lost that game and five more before winning the season finale.

Like Eli Manning, which top pick of the 1983 draft forced a trade from the team that selected him?

John Elway threatened to play baseball for the Yankees instead, and was dealt to Denver. Manning's 2004 quarterback class is often compared with his.

As Super Bowl XLII MVP, Eli Manning was offered his choice of any 2008 model from which carmaker?

Cadillac supplied the prize, and Manning drove off in an Escalade Hybrid.

In which country did Eli Manning marry his college sweetheart Abby McGrew in a private ceremony in 2008?

Mexico hosted the wedding in the resort town of San José del Cabo that April, weeks after his first Super Bowl win.

Eli Manning joined the ownership group of which National Women's Soccer League club in 2022?

Gotham FC plays its home games in New Jersey, the same state where Manning spent all 16 of his NFL seasons.

Eli Manning's first win as an NFL starter came in the 2004 season finale against which team?

Dallas Cowboys defenders gave up three touchdown passes to the rookie, who had lost his first six starts.

Against which team did rookie Eli Manning post a 0.0 passer rating and get benched in the second half?

Baltimore Ravens defenders held him to a rating of zero in his fourth start, yet the Giants kept him as their starter for the rest of the season.

Which Giants head coach was fired in 2017, days after benching Eli Manning for the first time?

Ben McAdoo lasted less than two seasons in charge, and his interim replacement made Manning the starter again two days after the game he sat out.

Which mayor gave Eli Manning's Giants symbolic keys to New York City after Super Bowl XLVI?

Mike Bloomberg handed them over after a victory parade through Manhattan honoring the Giants' fourth Super Bowl title.

Eli Manning finished third in the 2003 Heisman Trophy vote, won by which Oklahoma quarterback?

Jason White won it, with Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald second, the same Fitzgerald who later shared an NFL honor with Manning.

Which national player-of-the-year honor did Eli Manning win in 2003, when he was third in Heisman voting?

Maxwell Award voters named him the nation's best all-around player, and he also took the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the top senior quarterback.

Eli Manning ended his college career as MVP of which bowl game, a 31–28 win over Oklahoma State?

Cotton Bowl organizers inducted him into their Hall of Fame two decades later; he threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

As a college sophomore, Eli Manning threw six touchdown passes in a seven-overtime loss to which team?

Arkansas Razorbacks won it 58–56 in what was then the longest game in major college football history.

Which venue, Eli Manning's home field, hosted his brother Peyton's loss in Super Bowl XLVIII?

MetLife Stadium is also where the Giants retired his jersey number at halftime of a game in 2021.

Which quarterback threw seven touchdown passes to beat Eli Manning's six in a 52–49 shootout in 2015?

Drew Brees passed for 505 yards, and Manning became the first quarterback to throw six touchdowns with no interceptions and still lose.

Eli Manning served as red carpet host at the December 2025 draw for which global sports tournament?

FIFA World Cup organizers held the draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand conducting it.

Whose father did Archie Manning consult about the team set to draft Eli Manning first overall in 2004?

Ryan Leaf, picked right after Peyton Manning in 1998, had struggled with the same club, and his father said it had not helped him with his personal problems.

Which kicker's overtime field goals sent Eli Manning's Giants to both Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI?

Lawrence Tynes, born in Scotland, hit from 47 yards in sub-zero cold the first time and from 31 yards four years later.

What is Eli Manning's full first name, which he shares with his father Archie?

Elisha Nelson Manning is his full name, and his father is Elisha Archibald Manning III, better known as Archie.