Bill Kostroun / AP

Giants QB Eli Manning was a champion in his fourth season. That’s five years earlier than brother Peyton, who “couldn’t win the big one” until Indianapolis’ Super Bowl victory following the 2006 season.

updated 5:05 a.m. ET Aug. 31, 2008

ALBANY, N.Y. - Even late last season, listing Eli Manning among the NFL’s top quarterbacks would have been outlandish.

Now after an improbable run to a Super Bowl in which he was named the MVP, the Giants quarterback is being listed just below Tom Brady and his brother Peyton among the league’s elite.

In other words, Eli is finally fulfilling the great expectations of his background and draft position — first family of quarterbacks and first overall pick in the NFL draft.

Eli was a champion in his fourth season. That’s five years earlier than brother Peyton, who “couldn’t win the big one” until Indianapolis’ Super Bowl victory following the 2006 season, his ninth in the NFL.

The comparison is probably unfair to both siblings. Peyton, the more voluble, dislikes talking about his brother as a rival and Eli, five years younger, simply shrugs when asked.

They are similar in some ways. They have the same parents and the same build. And when Eli is lined up behind center, his arm signals and demeanor often resemble Peyton, although there are fewer audibles and fewer chances to improvise in New York’s offense than in Indy’s.

But they are not clones.

In an ideal world, each would probably be better off in the other’s city — the gregarious and flippant Peyton in New York, the humble-to-a-fault Eli in Indianapolis. Eli is said to be more like his mother Olivia and Peyton more like father Archie, who probably had as much talent as a QB as either son but was buried for most of his 14-season NFL career with a close-to-hopeless New Orleans team.

Peyton is proud of the family’s consecutive Super Bowl titles and consecutive MVPs, which has put the Manning brothers on the cover of the 2007 and 2008 NFL media guides. But he’s also uncomfortable with the continuous comparison.

“I think I’m the wrong guy to ask about that. Obviously, we are brothers. And now there are even more similarities because we’ve both proven we have the ability to win a championship,” he says, without having to add the “But ...”

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Peyton made the league’s elite in his second season, playing indoors with receivers like Marvin Harrison in an offense designed by Tom Moore, the only offensive coordinator he’s ever had. His only burden: he struggled in the playoffs, especially outdoors against a New England team that always seemed to find a way to make him look bad.

Eli?

It took him much of his early career to find his game in a run-oriented offense.

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