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Eli enjoys the ultimate moment

BY ARTHUR STAPLE | arthur.staple@newsday.com

12:08 AM EST, February 5, 2008

PHOENIX - Eli Manning barely got any sleep Sunday night. Bleary-eyed Monday morning, Manning said there was only one thing about him that had changed.

"I'm a Super Bowl champion," he said less than 12 hours after hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, as well as the MVP trophy, for leading the Giants to a 17-14 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. "I'm happy today, I'm fired up and I'm going to enjoy this moment. But you want to have this feeling again.

"I want to become a better quarterback. That's my goal."

Manning had a chance to enjoy his performance into the wee hours of Monday morning, not just with his family but with a host of high school friends from New Orleans and college friends from Ole Miss who made the trip for the Super Bowl.

After all the well-wishers and high-fives and hugs at University of Phoenix Stadium in the wake of the improbable winning drive that culminated with Manning's 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds to play, Manning retreated to his room at the Sheraton in Chandler. He couldn't sleep, though. "I turned on the television," he said. "I wanted to watch the game again."

Specifically, he wanted to see The Play. His third-and-5 throw to David Tyree for 32 yards that both NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Manning's celebrated brother, Peyton, called one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.

On a play that began at the Giants' 44, Manning appeared to be going down for a sack to force fourth-and-long with a minute left. Patriots defensive ends Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour each had a handful of Manning's jersey, but he broke free, stepped back and heaved a throw down the middle of the field. Tyree outleaped Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, pulled the ball down with his right hand, pinned it against his helmet one-handed and secured it with his left hand before falling backward on top of Harrison and being bent in an awkward position in which his back seemed to hyperextend.

"I kind of saw it a little bit on the field, but I didn't really get a chance to appreciate what a great catch it was," said Manning, who completed 9 of 14 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. "People were asking me how I got out of the jam I was in, and I don't really know. They were pulling me down. I felt them holding on to me, but I never got pulled to the ground."

Peyton and Dad Archie were in the locker room Sunday night, giving their glowing assessments of Eli. Michael Strahan pointed out that with Eli duplicating Peyton's Super Bowl MVP feat of a year ago, it's time for Eli to be regarded as his own special player.

"Not Peyton Manning's little brother, not Eli who slumps, none of that. Eli Manning is the world champion," Strahan said. "I hope everybody remembers that, respects that, understands that because this team goes nowhere without him. Eli Manning has taken us to the Super Bowl and Eli Manning has won it for us."

Even Goodell weighed in on the youngest Manning. "He made a name for himself last night," he said.

But Manning, humble even in the face of choosing his MVP gift from Cadillac Monday, already has his sights set on next season. He wondered aloud when Tom Coughlin's offseason workout program would begin -- "Monday," came Coughlin's call from off the podium -- and reveled in the way the Giants banded together to beat teams that were more talented.

"I hope we never lose that drive," Manning said. "Just because you have success and you win a championship doesn't mean you stop for a year, or you become content with what you've done. If anything, I think it should make you strive even harder or more to try and get here again. You've had this feeling, you've had this taste and you don't want it to leave. But we're going to have to work even harder and better, and that's our goal, to become a better team.

"Once we get back to working in March or April, it's going to be about, 'What can you do this year?' Last year is behind you, and we've celebrated for that month or two that you have off, and now it's back to work to see if you can do it again."