Manning’s journey gets at least one more Philadelphia chapter
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » No one could have foreseen it happening this way, but Eli Manning is going to have a farewell tour, after all.
How fitting it is.
In an eerie twist of fate, Daniel Jones is rehabbing a high-ankle sprain and will miss Monday night’s game in Philadelphia. Given that the Giants are 2-10, we may not see Jones again this season. Why put him at risk of further injury? He’s already gained 10 starts of invaluable rookie experience. Might as well turn the page to next season now.
It’s impossible to question Jones’ toughness, since by all accounts this is an injury the Giants simply aren’t allowing him to play through. Even after Packers linebacker Preston Smith fell on his lower right leg during the second quarter last Sunday, Jones didn’t miss a snap the rest of the game. But he felt sore on Monday, and here we are.
The fact that the Giants must turn back to Manning, the two-time Super Bowl MVP who went to the bench in Week 3, illuminates once again how consistently reliable he’s been for this franchise. Old and washed up now? Sure. Hard-pressed to find another starting job in the NFL next season, if that’s the route he wants to go before retirement? Probably.
Don’t forget that Manning has made 244 starts for the Giants — including the playoffs — without ever missing a game due to injury. And let’s not allow the 38-yearold’s sharp decline and the team’s ineptitude since 2017 to cloud our judgment when evaluating the legacy of this New York football icon. Yes, he’s a Hall of Famer.
“You look at (Manning) with anybody that’s in the Hall of Fame. I think you get to the Hall of Fame by playing consistently, and I think he’s done that and he’s been available consistently,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “Some people say the best ability is availability, and I definitely think it should help his case.”
Only Brett Favre and Philip Rivers have started more consecutive regular season games among quarterbacks than Manning, whose streak of 210 starts ended in 2017 only because former coach Ben McAdoo unceremoniously benched him for Geno Smith before being fired.
Not one week has gone by from Nov. 24, 2004 until now where Manning could not play for the Giants because of his health. Not even during the 2012 NFC Championship game, when Manning was sacked six times and banged around every which way in San Francisco before New York prevailed in overtime en route to its second Super Bowl title in five years.
“Every NFL football player, you come across some sort of injury — major or minor — really every year,” Slayton said. “So it’s a testament to him, his toughness, his mental will so to speak, that he’s never missed a game due to injury.”
He noted there’s a stroke of luck involved too, of course, because some injuries — an ACL tear, for example — are obviously too significant to shake off. It’s fair to assume that what Jones is experiencing now is out of his control. Last year at Duke, he missed two games with a broken clavicle but played through a similar ankle sprain.
Still, it’s a fascinating juxtaposition as Manning’s journey comes to a close. Jones is too hurt to play just 14 weeks into his career. Manning has never been in that position after more than 15 years.
Predictably, Manning has maintained an extremely low profile these past 11 weeks, almost to the point that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he’s still a member of the Giants. He’s been all class from the beginning. After being benched on Sept. 18, he promised to be a good soldier, mentor Jones and stay in the moment. He wasn’t dying, he joked, and his career was not over yet.
Now, Manning potentially has a four-game trial to prove he is good enough to play somewhere in 2020. He needs only two touchdown passes and nine passing yards to move ahead of Ben Roethlisberger for seventh place on those all-time lists. And his career record is 116-116, so he’ll be looking to go above .500 against an Eagles team that is bad enough to lose to anyone now.
Asked what has been the toughest part of being the backup quarterback, Manning said he simply missed being part of the action with his teammates.
The Giants say there were no plans to give Manning any kind of late-season sendoff, but as it turns out, the book on his Hall of Fame journey still has one more chapter.
“I think you’re always eager to play, that’s why you play,” Manning said. “That’s why you compete, and you work out and do everything — to go out there and compete on game day and get wins and put your team in a situation to win. I think when you’re not doing that you miss it, and you’re excited about the competitive part of it.”