ELI & PHILIP
Forever linked Eli & Rivers set to meet again
Forever linked, Manning and Rivers meet up again as Giants gets set to play Chargers
THE GIANTS drafted Philip Rivers fourth overall in 2004 and traded him to the Chargers for first overall pick Eli Manning. Now, all these years later, Rivers and Manning will meet in “The 0-4 Bowl” on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants and L.A. Chargers are among the NFL’s four 0-4 teams. Manning and Rivers already were linked forever by the number four due to their dramatic ’04 draft day swap, but they would rather dodge this connection with the digit.
Sunday’s game will mark the first meeting of two NFL teams 0-4 or worse since — you guessed it — 2004, per Elias Sports Bureau, when the 0-4 Bills defeated the 0-5 Dolphins, 20-13, on Oct. 17 in Buffalo.
The trade of Manning for Rivers, of course, changed the course of NFL history and occurred — when else —not on the 23rd or 25th but the 24th of April 2004.
In 2004, Manning had told the Chargers he didn’t want to play for them and would sit out the season if they picked him first overall. Chargers GM A.J. Smith drafted Manning anyway, already aware the Giants wanted him, having discussed a possible trade with Giants GM Ernie Accorsi the night before. The Chargers liked the idea of drafting and dealing Manning because they didn’t want him falling to the rival Raiders.
Accorsi knew the Chargers liked Rivers, but he still entered draft day convinced he wasn’t getting Manning because on Friday night, when he offered the Chargers a No. 1 pick swap and the Giants’ No. 3 in 2004 No. 2 in 2005, Smith responded with demands that Accorsi called “way too steep” —the Giants’ No. 1, 2 and 3 picks that Saturday, plus their No. 1 the following year and defensive end Osi Umenyiora.
A game of high-stakes chicken followed over the next 18 hours.
Accorsi wouldn’t call Smith back on the unreasonable counter-offer and didn’t get a call from Smith until the Giants were on the clock fourth overall, after Manning (Chargers), Iowa tackle Robert Gallery (Raiders) and Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals) came off the board.
When the Chargers took Manning, he still walked on stage, shook hands with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and held up a blue Chargers No. 1 jersey. Two minutes, later Manning was saying he wanted the Chargers to trade him, only to find out shortly after from a random kid in a hallway that the Giants had traded for him.
Manning was a Charger for one hour and thankful for the trade to the Giants.
“I am happy,” Manning said. “I never expected it to happen.”
The Giants ended up getting Manning for Rivers, their No. 3 pick that year and their No. 1s and 5 picks in 2005. They protected Umenyiora and their 2004 second-round pick that became guard Chris Snee.
They also had entertained an offer from the Browns, who were looking to move up from No. 7. The Giants would have moved down and taken Miami (Ohio) QB Ben Roethlisberger. They liked Roethlisberger, but they loved Manning. The rest is history.
Manning took the Giants’ reins in Week 11 of his rookie year and has started every game since. That includes an NFL high 203 consecutive regularseason starts among active players. He is even closing in on his older brother Peyton (208 straight for the Colts, 19982010), while Brett Favre’s 287-game streak for the Packers, Jets and Vikings (1992-2010) remains the gold standard.
It took Rivers until Week 17 of the 2005 season to assume the starter’s role. But since, Rivers also has been the example of durability, making 181 consecutive regular-season starts for the Chargers.
Manning, who turns 37 in January, has thrown for 49,327 career yards, 326 TDs and 219 INTs with a career 83.9 QB rating. Rivers, who turns 36 in December, has thrown for 46,940 career yards, 320 TDs and 160 INTs with a career 94.6 QB rating.
Manning is winless against the Chargers in three career meetings despite a respectable 96.7 passer rating, with 69 completions on 106 attempts (65% completion), five TD passes and two interceptions. He was, of course, booed lustily in his first trip to San Diego on Sept. 25, 2005, when he threw for 352 yards, two TDs and no INTs but the Giants were thumped, 45-23.
Rivers and Manning have only met headto-head twice because Drew Brees was still the Chargers’ quarterback for the 2005 meeting.
On Nov. 8, 2009, Rivers (24-of-36, 209 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs) threw a game-winning TD pass to Vincent Jackson with 21 seconds remaining to beat Manning (25-of-33, 215 yards, 2 TD) and the host Giants, 21-20. On Dec. 8, 2013, Rivers (21-of-28, 249 yards, 3 TDs) and the host Chargers beat Manning (20-of-32, 259 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) and the Giants, 37-14.
But, of course, Manning holds the two trump cards: He has brought the Giants two Super Bowls, while the Chargers are still looking for one.
On Sunday, they will battle for a new Bowl: “The 0-4 Bowl” at MetLife Stadium. And in what likely could be their final head-to-head meeting, neither Manning nor Rivers wants to make history this time around.