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couple years later.... who won?

Chargers.

Eli's got a ring.

so far manning because he won the super bowl, but the chargers have a brighter and better future... i hope...

Eli and the Giants, thus far. Accorsi and Reese have done a great job building around their franchise QB (even though he doesn't perform at that elite level yet), and will continue to do so.

The Chargers still rely on their names; LT, Gates, Merriman. With all of those guys having injury problems in the last couple of years, who knows how much longer they'll be able to contend before breaking down.

2 above-average players > 1 average player

I'd take Rivers and Merriman over Manning. I'm not even sold that the Giants wouldn't have won the Super Bowl with Rivers in place over Manning.

I'd probably take Shawne Merriman over Eli+Rivers, and I'm not a big Merriman fan.

I don't think they win the superbowl with Rivers though, very few QB's can make that throw to David Tyree.

Let's see... Eli's got a ring and Merriman's got some pro bowl appearances.

If you'd rather have star players than a championship you're not a real fan .

Al n' Perk No Layups! wrote:If you'd rather have star players than a championship you're not a real fan .

If you think one ring makes somebody a better player, you obviously believe Trent Dilfer is better than Dan Marino. And that would make you not a real fan.

Basketball Jesus wrote:

Al n' Perk No Layups! wrote:If you'd rather have star players than a championship you're not a real fan .

If you think one ring makes somebody a better player, you obviously believe Trent Dilfer is better than Dan Marino. And that would make you not a real fan.

He does have a point. Look at Terry Bradshaw, he's even got four rings.

The Chargers have pulled some really good deals with the Vick and Manning trades, but they just can't win.

I agree with the Eli argument. I consider Merriman a curse and believe the Chargers will never win with him on the team. Testicles (that's tes-te-clees), the Roman god of football, will not allow steroid abusing, overrated, selfish jackasses to win Super Bowls. Except Jim McMahon and Lyle Alzado.

I would agree that Rivers is a better QB and has a brighter future than Eli, but that doesn't always win Super Bowls. Jim Kelly was a better QB than any he faced in Super Bowls (that's right, Aikman too) but he couldn't win one. Fran Tarkenton was a hell of a QB but couldn't win. Nor Dan Fouts. It takes a team and it takes clutch players making clutch plays. Eli showed me he can do that, so that's a real feather in his cap.

Basketball Jesus wrote:

Al n' Perk No Layups! wrote:If you'd rather have star players than a championship you're not a real fan .

If you think one ring makes somebody a better player, you obviously believe Trent Dilfer is better than Dan Marino. And that would make you not a real fan.

oh yeah, i would totally take one championship over 12 years making the playoffs and getting knocked out.

nobody remembers who didn't make it to the super bowl.

if both their careers ended now, 20 years from now, everybody will still remember Eli, and very very will remember Rivers.

Icness wrote:I agree with the Eli argument. I consider Merriman a curse and believe the Chargers will never win with him on the team. Testicles (that's tes-te-clees), the Roman god of football, will not allow steroid abusing, overrated, selfish jackasses to win Super Bowls. Except Jim McMahon and Lyle Alzado.

I would agree that Rivers is a better QB and has a brighter future than Eli, but that doesn't always win Super Bowls. Jim Kelly was a better QB than any he faced in Super Bowls (that's right, Aikman too) but he couldn't win one. Fran Tarkenton was a hell of a QB but couldn't win. Nor Dan Fouts. It takes a team and it takes clutch players making clutch plays. Eli showed me he can do that, so that's a real feather in his cap.

you forgot bill romanowski

Icness wrote:I agree with the Eli argument. I consider Merriman a curse and believe the Chargers will never win with him on the team. Testicles (that's tes-te-clees), the Roman god of football, will not allow steroid abusing, overrated, selfish jackasses to win Super Bowls. Except a good majority of football players.

Fixed.

Harry10 wrote:oh yeah, i would totally take one championship over 12 years making the playoffs and getting knocked out.

nobody remembers who didn't make it to the super bowl.

First of all, the question isn’t which team is better. It’s who got the better side of the deal. Second, Super Bowls are a terrible method of measuring value. Like I said before, Trent Dilfer has a ring. Dan Marino doesn’t. Terry Bradshaw has four; Peyton Manning one. So, unless your original question was grossly misworded, the question is who would you rather have: one OK QB or one OK QB and a very good defensive player?

As of right now, it's Rivers/Merriman. Though I will say it's starting to look like there might be a possibility that those guys are going to be too injury prone to have prolonged careers, so if that keeps up my vote will change.

When I saw this thread, I thought to myself "Ugh! Here comes a bunch of irrelevent 'take a Superbowl over talent' rhetoric" and was very sad to be proven right. But it looks like BBJ is doing a nice job explaining just how foolish that justification is.....

I'm a Giants fan & an Eli supporter but I'd love to have Rivers & Merriman in NY. The media would have a field day with them.

Icness wrote:It takes a team and it takes clutch players making clutch plays. Eli showed me he can do that, so that's a real feather in his cap.

This is a contradiction if I've ever seen one. And if you don't think Philip Rivers is clutch, then I am very confident in saying you don't watch many Chargers games.