cbs sports march madness

The Manning Bowl
By Julie Smith

Peyton and Eli Manning are two NFL players that happen to be brothers and that happen to have a father whose name is known within the NFL world: Archie Manning. He used to be part of this beautiful sport as he used to be a quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. But these two brothers play for different teams: Peyton plays for the Indianapolis Colts and Eli, who is the younger brother plays for the New York Giants.

These two quarterbacks had to play face to face last Sunday, when the Indianapolis Colts visited the New York Giants in an inter-conference battle.

Peyton is a two-time NFL MVP and a six-time Pro Bowler. Last season he threw for 3,747 yards and 28 touchdowns with just 10 interceptions for a rating of 104.1. Meanwhile Eli has passed for 3,762 yards and 24 touchdowns with 17 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 75.9 in his second year in the league.

But last Sunday, Peyton excelled by getting four field goals by Adam Vinatieri to escape with a 26-21 triumph in the highly anticipated marquee game of the league's opening weekend.

The Indianapolis Colts were leading 13-0 and 16-7 in the first half as Peyton Manning threw a second-quarter touchdown pass to tight end Dallas Clark and Vinatieri provided three field goals. But the New York Giants didn't wilt. They played efficiently all along, with tailback Tiki Barber amassing

110 rushing yards and backup Brandon Jacobs 54 more, and Eli Manning threw touchdown passes to wide receiver Plaxico Burress in the second quarter and tight end Jeremy Shockey in the third quarter.

When Brandon Jacobs ran for a one-yard touchdown with just more than eight minutes to play to match the one-yard touchdown by Colts tailback Dominic Rhodes earlier in the fourth quarter, the New York Giants were within 23-21. But Eli Manning threw an interception to Indianapolis Colts� cornerback Nick Harper on the Giants' next possession. That came one play after a controversial offensive pass interference call on wide receiver Tim Carter negated a first down. That led to Vinatieri's fourth field goal, from 32 yards, with 1 minute 12 seconds to go, and the Giants ran out of time on their last-gasp drive.

Peyton Manning who completed 25 of 41 passes for 276 yards with one interception, said he was proud of his brother, that he enjoyed watching Eli playing in person and that his younger brother was as good as he looked on TV.

Eli completed 20 of 34 passes for 247 yards, losing a fumble in addition to his one interception.