Eli Manning on Dak Prescott: “He’s on the verge, but he’s already one of the elite players.”

Eli Manning now makes a nice living to speak candidly about football, but has to be careful about this topic.

The subject is the Dallas Cowboys, and specifically their starting quarterback.

There are comparisons between Eli Manning’s time as the starter with the New York Giants, and Dak Prescott’s current tenure with the Cowboys.

Dak Prescott with the Cowboys is not that much different than Eli Manning with the New York Giants. The same Eli Manning who won two Super Bowls with the Giants.

Cowboys fans, if you are looking for hope, here you go.

For a good while, Peyton’s little brother was just that; a quarterback who was good enough to get his team into the playoffs, and not win any playoff games. That was the rap on Eli, until both he and the Giants changed it.

If any current quarterback in the NFL can relate to the “Quarterback X Isn’t Good Enough To Win a Super Bowl” narrative, which Eli heard for years, Dak Prescott sits at the top of this undesired list.

“I’ve known Dak for a long time; watched him play at Mississippi State. Competed against him here against the Cowboys for a number of years, and I’ve watched him since,” said Manning, who was in Arlington on Thursday. He was honored along with a handful of former college football greats as they were inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame at AT&T Stadium.

“He has all of the tools to be a tremendous player. He’s dealt with injuries and come back from it. I gotta be a little careful. I’m still with the Giants in the NFC, and promoting a guy in the NFC ... but I’ve always been impressed with Dak with how he’s handled everything. I feel like he’s on the verge, but he’s already one of the elite players.”

Find the negative sentences Dak has heard after every playoff loss and you can probably find the exact same ones slapped on Eli Manning in his career.

He was never good enough. Just a guy. Not elite. Trent Dilfer with a different name. If Eli’s last name wasn’t Manning, he would be cut.

In 2007, all of that went into the Porta-Potty.

Until those playoffs, Manning was blah in two career postseason games. Both losses. Both in the wildcard round.

In 2007, his fourth NFL season, the Giants were the lowest seed in the NFC playoffs. They promptly upset the Bucs in Tampa in the wildcard round.

The next week, they upset Wade Phillips’ top-seeded Cowboys in Irving in the divisional round.

The next week, in the NFC title game, Eli ‘n’ friends upset Mike McCarthy and the Packers at Lambeau Field in freezing temperatures.

Then the Giants upset Tom Brady and the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Manning was the Super Bowl MVP.

Magically, “Eli Will Never Win A Super Bowl” vanished.

“Winning playoff games, sometimes that’s not on the quarterback,” Manning said. “That’s on the team and everybody coming together to do that.”

In Manning’s first run to the Super Bowl, he played well in all four wins. He also had the benefit of a defense, and specifically a front four, that didn’t allow Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers or Brady to do their thing.

“It comes down to playing team football; it wasn’t like we were out-scoring everybody and clicking,” Manning said. “We were playing great defense. We knew our defense was playing well so we didn’t have to be super aggressive. We didn’t have to take chances.

“We could run the ball. We could try to control the game, keep it close in the fourth quarter, and go win it. That was the philosophy that helped us win those games. It wasn’t easy. It was overtime games. Fourth quarters. Two minute drives to win it.”

In Manning’s run to his first Super Bowl, the consensus was once both he and the Giants defeated the Cowboys, it all changed. That Manning changed.

No way to know if that’s true, but it sounds good.

“We lost to them twice that season already and they were very good,” he said. “Tony Romo was playing great. Their defense was one of the best in the league.”

Of the many frustrating losses the Cowboys have suffered since they won their last Super Bowl, that 17-14 divisional playoff loss to the Giants in the 2007 postseason tops the list. Eli Manning had a lot to do with that one.

That win at Texas Stadium “changed everything for Eli and the Giants,” even if nothing had really changed. They were playing well. Eli was playing well. They won close games.

Four years later, Eli and the Giants won another Super Bowl, again versus Tom Brady against the Patriots.

Eli’s window of postseason success effectively closed after that season.

That is essentially what is missing from Dak’s resume.

The same was once true of Eli Manning (before he won two Super Bowls).