SORRY, BUT HAVE WE MET?
Eli & Marshall will need chemistry lesson
BRANDON MARSHALL is about to go into the Giants’ Week 1 opener in Dallas without having caught a single pass from Eli Manning this entire preseason. Unsettling, isn’t it? Even if Ben McAdoo plays Marshall for two series in Thursday night’s preseason finale at New England, as he did with last year’s starting receivers not named Odell Beckham Jr., Manning is not expected to play. Marshall was supposed to be the signing of the NFL offseason. The hype train for the Giants’ offense already left the station long ago. And granted, 11 NFL seasons buys a veteran receiver some benefit of the doubt. But Marshall himself even acknowl- edged in one of his rare interviews this preseason that McAdoo’s timing-based offense is much different than what Marshall is used to, and that chemistry between him and Manning is not going to happen overnight. McAdoo’s answer Tuesday to what Marshall has shown him recently as far as his understanding of the offense was case in point. “He hasn’t been out there very much in the last couple of weeks,” the coach said, after Marshall increased his Tuesday practice workload from Monday’s limited participation. “I mean, today was a good day for him to get back out there and get some routes on air and then get some of the work in the team periods.” So where does this leave the Giants? Well, it’s beginning to look like no one will know the answer to how long it will take Marshall to acclimate until the lights come on in Dallas on Sept. 10. He has made some impressive plays in practice, but his individual talent is not a question. The concerns are with his fit and comfort in the context of the offense, and with his health. Marshall played two uneventful snaps in the Giants’ preseason opener against Pittsburgh. And in 26 snaps in Cleveland, he missed a run block on the offense’s first play from scrimmage — a Paul Perkins run for no gain — and then appeared to injure his shoulder on Manning’s lone target of him this August, before catching one Geno Smith pass for two yards.
Marshall, it seemed, made the smart business decision not to reach for Manning’s slightly overthrown deep ball down the right sideline with Browns safety Jabrill Peppers bearing down. But Peppers popped Marshall hard anyway on the left shoulder, and Marshall eventually left the game and did not return.
Marshall then stood on the sidelines for the rest of last week’s practices and did not play in last Saturday’s game against the Jets — normally the best preseason test for a team’s starters. He only returned to limited practice participation on Monday, before increasing his workload on Tuesday.
And yet Marshall has not spoken to the media since returning to the field. In fact, he has done only two interviews with local beat reporters since training camp opened: on July 29 and on Aug. 15. It is an unusual tactic for someone who already has dabbled in a media career with Showtime’s ‘Inside the NFL.’
Marshall, 33, it should be noted, seems focused on keeping his head down and working. Beckham is the star, and Marshall is just trying to do his part, desperate to make his first trip to the NFL postseason, let alone win a Super Bowl.
Marshall has resisted any storylines about being a mentor to Beckham, as well. He is here to produce and win. Those seem to be the motives behind everything Marshall is doing — or not doing — at the moment.
“Brandon looked good today, it was good to have him back out Tthere at practice, knock some rust off,” McAdoo said. he problem is that the Giants need Marshall in the spotlight — not out of it — if his signing is going to be worth it. They need him healthy. They need Manning and Marshall in sync. They need to see Marshall on the field.
Very soon, the hype will die down, and it will be time for Marshall’s play to talk, even if he won’t.
Manning and Marshall have very little time to develop chemistry before season-opener in Dallas