Super Brother

If Eli Manning had summoned his big brother during the NFC championship game on Jan. 22, no one would have blamed him. All day, the San Francisco 49ers' defense pounded Eli into the soupy Candlestick Park grass like a horseshoe stake, sacking him six times. After being hit yet again late in the game, he called a time-out to regroup, with sod stuck to his helmet and his shoulder pads undone, looking like a rookie who had just been hazed.

You couldn't picture Peyton Manning, one of the most competitive athletes of our time, being so calm if he were taking such a beating. When any of Peyton's Indianapolis Colts screws up, he scolds them, dishing out verbal sacks to offending offensive linemen. Eli delivers no such beratings. Sure, you'll see him give a stern lecture to a wayward wide receiver. But mostly he's unruffled; he's too busy running the offense. "Eli doesn't have to show any false emotion," says David Cutcliffe, Eli's coach at Ole Miss, who remains close to his former star player. "What a gift that is. He never changes."

Only his stats do. By turning in an MVP-caliber regular season in which he threw for nearly 5,000 yards and led the surging New York Giants to a second Super Bowl in five years, Eli Manning is forever altering fans' opinions of him and flipping the order of the names on the Manning marquee. On Feb. 5 in Indianapolis, New York faces the New England Patriots in a rematch of the 2008 Super Bowl: that year, the Giants spoiled New England's perfect season, upsetting the Pats 17-14.

Despite that win, when people talked about the Mannings, it was always Peyton and then Eli. Peyton was more than just the older bro; he was the superior quarterback by far. No more. Eli seems to be setting new marks every week. This year, he threw 15 fourth-quarter touchdown passes, breaking the record held by Baltimore Colts legend Johnny Unitas-- and Indy Colts legend Peyton. Eli rises in the playoffs (the same can't always be said for Peyton), and by beating the 49ers, he became the first quarterback to win five postseason road games. Now Peyton is recovering from a neck injury that cost him the season and pondering his future with the Colts. The team finished 2-14 without him this season and will almost certainly select Stanford standout QB Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft. The Colts may even release Peyton to save some salary-cap cash. Meanwhile, little brother Eli will storm into Peytontown with a chance to win his second Super Bowl. If Eli beats the Pats again, he'll be out from Peyton's shadow forever--a hero to neglected little brothers everywhere.