The two-time Super Bowl winner will eventually be inducted into the Hall, and when he is, those insisting he was entitled to a first-ballot entry will seem just as silly as those who never wanted him to get in.

Jared Allen, Sterling Sharpe, Eric Allen and Antonio Gates did make the cut and will be enshrined in Canton in August.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Eli Manning has faced doubters before. Entering the 2007 playoffs, when the quarterback led the New York Giants on a Super Bowl run that ended in an upset win over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, there were questions about whether he was built for pressure situations.