He lost to the Chargers and Patriots who were the two best teams in the league the years he lost to them. Peyton carried extremely flawed Indy teams to the playoffs every year for over a decade. He isn't a choker. They used to call Elway a choker, but once he had a good team around him he won back to back Super Bowls.

Save 2 special teams screw ups last year Alex Smith would have led them to the SB.

Ok.

So what's changed?

ROFL The old Manning defense. When they lost it was because he was on teams that were inferior talent wise. When they won it was all because of him. Question for you then. When the Colts lost the SB to NO what was the cause? Was it Manning and his Pick-6 or the Colts "inferior" talent.

Save for 1 of 13 in third down opportunities against the Giants, that 1 a meaningless conversion at the end of the first half, Alex Smith would have led the Giants to the SB.

People want to blame Williams, but if Smith converts just a 3 or 4 third down chances, those fumbled punts won't matter.

Smith wilted under presssure.

Eli stepped up and converted huge third down opportunities.

This, and he did it again in the regular season game vs the Giants

TEXANS and Giants

SF won't get there with Smith as the QB.

Yeah, Eli has a whole different gear for the playoffs, so I can agree with that.

I think the Pack's questionable defense will continue to haunt them.

And there is something about Atlanta that does not seem quite right. They could be exposed as the season goes, but maybe not.

Without a doubt Smith did not play a great game in that game, but without those special teams errors it would not have mattered. He was good in the previous game though. As "money" as Eli was in that game, it took a short field that was the result of a miffed punt to get the Giants in a position to score the game leading TD. Prior to that Eli struggled to move the ball and most people I have talked to including Giants fans doubted he would have been able to drive them the length of the field to a TD.

Ultimately it is irrelevant because Eli and the Giants and not Smith and the 49ers won that game. We will never know for sure if Eli could have driven the length of the field for the game winning score. I still think that Smith can lead SF to a SB. He is by no means an elite QB, but I think he is good enough especially with that team.

Smith made a couple of plays against a weak Saints D.

And anyone that questions Eli in big games when the game is on the line has not been watching football for the last 5 years.

There is no one more clutch.

Bottom line, when the game is in the balance, you need a QB that can step up and make plays against not just the weakass defenses, but one that can do it against the good, even great defenses.

Alex Smith is not that guy.

And you are not going to the SB with defense and running the ball in today's NFL.

Pack/Pats

Both teams are much better than their record.

I never really hype the Giants, because they never seem truly elite to me, they're not flashy on offense, nothing jumps out, but thats mostly because of my re-ocurring misperceptions of Eli... they just call what works.

He NEVER really looks elite, until it really MATTERS... i've said many times how he does more with less true physical talent than any QB in the NFL... but, put him onstage when it counts & he has been total nails for years.

He's the headiest QB in the NFL, hands down... it'll be NYG @ ATL for conference champ.

No, Pats aren't.

They are a declining team relying on an aging superstar QB.

Peyton had a better team around him in 2006 and 2007 than he does now.