USAT: Giants Wire audio clip

USAT: Giants Wire

Feb 13, 2022

Tom Brady is arguably the greatest player of all-time. He’s joined in that conversation by the likes of Lawrence Taylor, Jim Brown Jerry Rice and others. - But for some current and former members of the New York Giants, that distinction belongs to two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. And they don’t care what anyone thinks about that opinion. - “Anytime you put Eli Manning and the word ‘GOAT’ in the same sentence, I’m just going to say yes. He’s one of the best to do it,” Victor Cruz said during a Bleacher Report AMA this week. “His attention, approach, for all those reasons, yes. He took down Brady twice. Undefeated Brady and then round two Brady — (that) in my mind the football gods, you never know. He did it again in dramatic fashion, nice deep ball to Mario in the corner. He’s the GOAT as well as the GOAT slayer.” - Cruz isn’t the only one of Manning’s former teammates who feel that way. In fact, several do — from Justin Tuck to Hakeem Nicks and from Mario Manningham to Chase Blackburn. - But Cruz didn’t stop his reflection at Eli. He also recalled Tom Coughlin’s pre-Super Bowl XLVI speech in which the coach told his team he loved them. - “Tom Coughlin’s speech the night before. This one was a little bit special. You could tell it was a little bit more special,” Cruz said. “He had some really great words for us and I just remember that moment. It almost felt like we won the game right there. We wouldn’t let anything else affect us. It was a beautiful thing.” - Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning. Two GOATs of the Giants franchise who brought down the GOATs of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. All these years later and it’s still hard to believe. - Follow the Giants Wire Podcast: - Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts - - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Giants Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Giants Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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