Eli, Romo to battle with playoffs on line

Eli Manning. Tony Romo.

Let the Great Debate begin!

Both have taken huge strides this season. Manning has set franchise records for passing yardage and has engineered six fourth-quarter wins. He also earned a second Pro Bowl invitation.

Romo has evolved from a wild-eyed daredevil to a passer who has thrown for 18 touchdowns and only two interceptions in the last eight games.

But only one can be a playoff quarterback. Whoever wins Sunday night's game between the Giants and the Cowboys will get to move on and continue his season. For the loser, the lingering question will be:

Can a quarterback be elite if he does not make the postseason?

That word -- "elite" -- has hung on Manning for the past five months thanks to a preseason radio interview in which he slapped the label on himself. He's gone out and proved it through 15 games, playing at a level somewhat similar to that of Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees, in terms of production . . . if not wins. But all three of those guys have RSVP'd for the playoffs. Manning and Romo still are fighting over who gets to go, who gets to sit at the grown-up quarterbacks table.

This is nothing new for the two of them. Their careers have been intertwined for years. They're two of the most nitpicked, analyzed quarterbacks in the game, playing for two of the league's big-market franchises. There probably are just as many people who think Manning and Romo are overrated as believe they are underrated.

So who is having a better season? The instinct is to say Manning, but statistically it's Romo. He has more touchdown passes (29 compared with 26), fewer interceptions (nine to 16) and a better completion percentage (.654 to .603). Manning has a big lead in passing yardage -- 4,587 to 3,895 -- but Romo's passer rating is a few ticks higher than Manning's, 102.2 to 90.3.

Yet Manning is going to the Pro Bowl and Romo is not.

Perhaps that has more to do with perception than reality. The perception is that Manning can win the big one -- even though it's been four years since he won a playoff game. His comeback wins this year have added to that.

"Some guys, some groups and some teams get overwhelmed by [pressure]," Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "Fortunately for us, that hasn't been the case. I think the opposite has happened. We actually get more focused, more zoomed in and have responded more consistently with more big plays in those situations than we do throughout the course of the game."

Meanwhile, the perception is that Romo chokes away big games. Games such as the one that started the season at MetLife Stadium against the Jets.

Games such as this one.

"There are certain games at the end of the year that come up that obviously count the same in the standings, but a game like this, you know if you lose, you're done," Romo said. "If you win, you continue to play, so the importance level of that, I think everybody knows that and understands that."

Ultimately, that's how these quarterbacks are judged.

"Whether it's fair or not, that's the way it comes down: what happens in the big games, the clutch games," Manning said. "I think these are games you're excited to play in. These are great opportunities and everything is on the line. And hopefully, we can come out and play our best football."

The Giants think highly of Romo, even if the rest of the world does not.

"He made the throws that were there and in some cases he created when they weren't," Justin Tuck said of the last time the teams played, when Romo threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns and led the Cowboys on a last-minute drive that was a Tom Coughlin-called timeout and a Jason Pierre-Paul fingertip on a field-goal attempt away from sending the game into overtime. "That's what we expect from him and that's one of the reasons why he's one of the best quarterbacks in the league."

That's a phrase that isn't always attached to Romo or Manning -- "one of the best in the league.''

After Sunday night, only one of them will have a stronger argument.