Since he arrived at Giants' camp a few years back, Eli Manning has always been a blue-collar, low-key, do-what-you-need-to-do-to-win kind of quarterback.

That's why it surprised me when he was recently quoted as calling himself a top-five quarterback in the NFL. Don't get me wrong, Eli Manning is a very good quarterback, one who's won a Super Bowl title, but top five? I don't think so.

I'm sure we can all think of at least five quarterbacks off the top of our heads -- Tom Brady, big brother Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Michael Vick, Phillip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers (just to name a few) -- who I think most Giants fans would take over Eli in a New York minute.

Now, a quarterback saying something like this at this time of year, probably won't raise the eyebrows of too many. I mean, it's preseason, and heck, all you have to do is listen to the coach of the other New York team to hear even bolder claims.

But, come November or December, if the Giants are nothing more than a .500 team (as many experts are predicting) and Eli is nothing more than an average quarterback (which is how many of these same experts rate him already), his preseason statement from the middle of August might just come back to bite him.