Eli Manning Thinks PFF Missed a Throw. His Proof Makes a Strong Case.

Eli Manning is still auditing his own Hall of Fame case, one throw at a time.

The two-time Super Bowl MVP caught wind of a Pro Football Focus stat floating around this week — that his 2011 season included 70 “big-time throws,” the most PFF has ever recorded from a single quarterback. The post from Big Blue Vault got Manning thinking. He had a question.

“Did you count the corner route to Nicks at Dallas in the 4th Quarter?” Manning replied.

He was suggesting the number should be 71. And he wasn’t wrong.

BigBlueVCR dug up the clip. It’s a beauty. Fourth quarter, Giants down 12, playoff margin basically zero. Manning rolls right, steps into a lofted pass to Hakeem Nicks on the sideline. Nicks makes a toe-tap catch in double coverage. Eight catches, 163 yards for Nicks that day. The throw set up a touchdown to Jake Ballard. The Giants won.

That 2011 season was Manning at his absolute peak. He threw for a career-high 4,933 yards. His 8.4 yards per attempt was also a career best. He had 29 touchdowns, 16 picks, and five fourth-quarter comebacks. The Giants went 9-7, won the NFC East, and then ran through the playoffs — beating the Falcons, the 15-1 Packers, and the 49ers in San Francisco before facing the Patriots in the Super Bowl again.

Manning completed 75% of his passes in that Super Bowl. He threw for 296 yards and a touchdown. He won MVP. His 1,219 postseason passing yards are still an NFL record. He threw nine touchdowns and one interception across four playoff games.

The 70 big-time throws number was already absurd. Manning is just making sure the record book gets the decimal point right. Whether that changes his Hall of Fame case is up to voters. But the 2011 film? That holds up.