Success has changed Eli — in all the right ways
ST. LOUIS — Eli Manning surprisingly still carries his own bags, toting one each in hand as he walked to the bus late Sunday afternoon inside the Edward Jones Dome with another road victory added to his résumé.
He insists that even after his fourth-quarter Super Bowl heroics, leading the New York Giants to a shocking upset of New England last February that made him the toast of New York, he hasn’t changed.
“Not really,” Manning said, a short while after leading the Giants to a 41-13 blowout of the St. Louis Rams to go to 2-0 on the season.
Proof of that came when a stadium worker asked him for his autograph, even with the two hands full of luggage. Most quarterbacks whiz by, telling the poor soul maybe next time, but not Manning. He stopped, put the bags down, signed, and then picked up his bags and continued to the bus.
You think Joe Willie ever carries his own bags?
OK, so maybe Manning hasn’t changed his aw-shucks, nice-guy ways — “it’s good to see such a good kid doing so well,” said one Giants coach — but that Super Bowl victory has done something.
It has elevated him to a higher level as a player. Watching him Sunday, he had the look of a certain quarterback who has the same name and plays in Indianapolis. Eli was poised in the pocket, scanned the field with a swiveling head and never seemed to get rattled.
sportsline.com
9/14/08
