Established in 1925, the New York Giants have a combined record of 692-596-33 and have won four of the five Super Bowls in which they played. The team’s most recent Super Bowl win was in 2011, when it defeated the New England Patriots by a score of 21-17.
Quarterback Eli Manning led the charge offensively for the Giants as he recorded 296 passing yards and one touchdown. Entering his 16th season with the Giants, Manning is now the team’s all-time leader in passing yards with 55,981 through 232 games. For context, 140 players have thrown at least one pass as a member of the Giants, while six have registered in excess of 10,000 passing yards.
Below are the team’s top-five quarterbacks in that regard:
1. Eli Manning
As noted, Manning leads all Giants quarterbacks with 55,981 yards passing. Moreover, he is also the franchise's all-time leader in games played by a quarterback (232) and touchdowns (360). Regarding the latter statistic, no other Giants quarterback has even reached 200 touchdowns with the team.
The first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, Manning had only six touchdowns and nine interceptions in a relatively disappointing rookie season. Fortunately, he rebounded the following year with 24 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.
The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback posted his best regular season in 2015. He recorded a career-best 35 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 93.6. He also had 4,432 passing yards, which was the second-highest mark of his career.
Despite his regular season success, Manning will best be remembered for his playoff heroics. He was the quarterback for two of the Giants' four Super Bowl victories, with the most memorable coming in 2007 against the Patriots.
New England had won all 18 games that season prior to facing the Giants in the Super Bowl. The Patriots held a late-game lead with Manning and the Giants facing a difficult 3rd-and-5 from their own 44-yard line. Instead of being tackled by the swarm of Patriots players, Manning was able to escape and find receiver David Tyree, who pinned the football against his helmet to secure the catch and a first down. New York eventually scored a touchdown and held on for a 17-14 victory.
2. Phil Simms
A two-time Pro Bowl quarterback, Simms was selected by the Giants with the 7th overall selection in the 1979 NFL Draft. He spent his entire 14-year career with the team. Like Manning, he was also a member of two winning Super Bowl teams, although he wasn't the starting quarterback in both of those games.
Simms was an integral part of the 1986 Super Bowl team. He registered 494 passing yards, eight touchdowns, and no interceptions through three victories. He started 14 of the team's 16 games in 1990 and led the team to a record of 11-3 in those games, but suffered a broken foot that forced him to miss the playoffs. Backup Jeff Hostetler started the Super Bowl that year and led the Giants to a 20-19 win over the Buffalo Bills.
Simms posted a career-best quarterback rating of 92.7 in 1990. However, he spent the following two seasons serving as a backup to Hostetler and Ray Handley. At 38 years old, he enjoyed a career renaissance in 1993 and earned his second Pro Bowl distinction, but was surprisingly released prior to the start of the 1994 season. Simms retired with 33,462 passing yards and 199 touchdowns through 164 games.
3. Charlie Conerly
Ranked third among all Giants quarterbacks with 19,488 passing yards, Conerly played 161 games with the team from 1948 to 1961. The Mississippi alumnus recorded one of his best seasons as a rookie; he threw for a career-best 22 touchdowns and 2,175 passing yards.
He also ranks third among all Giants quarterbacks in career touchdowns (173), but is second in interceptions (167). Conerly was on the final ballot for Hall of Fame induction several times, but was ultimately removed from contention in 1980. He is, however, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
4. Kerry Collins
Selected fifth overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 1995 NFL Draft, Collins played only five seasons with the Giants. However, he ranks fourth among all New York quarterbacks with 16,875 passing yards during that time.
His most productive year with the team was in 2002, when he threw for a career-best 4,073 yards. He also achieved a career-high 22 touchdowns with the team in 2000.
The two-time Pro Bowl quarterback retired in 2011 after playing three games that season with the Indianapolis Colts. He also played for the Tennessee Titans and the Oakland Raiders.
5. Fran Tarkenton
A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Tarkenton began his career in 1961 after being selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the third round of the NFL Draft. Although he spent 13 of his 18 seasons in the league with the Vikings, he earned Pro Bowl distinction in four of his five seasons with the Giants.
Through 69 games with the team, Tarkenton accumulated 13,905 passing yards and 103 touchdowns. He retired as a member of the Vikings following the 1978 season, despite posting a career-best 3,468 passing yards that year.