THE MANN FOR NEXT YEAR
All signs point to Eli being Giant starter in ’18
Steve Spagnuolo stopped on his way to the podium after Sunday’s 34-29 Giants loss to the Eagles to have a serious conversation with his brother in interim-dom, GM Kevin Abrams. There was a lot for the two men to talk about after their Giants frustratingly fell to 2-12 despite a surprisingly spirited and productive effort in front of gaggles of Eagles fans at an overrun MetLife Stadium. Maybe Spagnuolo was telling the potential next full-time GM that if he had a real special teams plan supporting him, he might win some games.
But unquestionably the primary topic coming off of this game will be Eli Manning, who complicated the plans for whomever becomes the next GM and coach of the Giants for how to proceed at quarterback by throwing for more than 400 yards for the first time without Odell Beckham Jr.’s help since Sept. 8, 2013.
Manning, who turns 37 on Jan. 3, hadn’t done it since that 2013 Week 1 loss in Dallas in which Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Reuben Randle all eclipsed 100 yards receiving. Those were the days.
But on Sunday Manning gladly accepted Mike Sullivan’s pass-heavy game plan that leaned on the two-time Super Bowl winning QB and pushed the ball more downfield than the Giants had in Philadelphia in Week 3. Manning set a career-high for passing yards in a first half (252) and completed 37-of-57 passes for 434 yards, three touchdowns and an interception as the team scored a seasonhigh 29 points.
Afterward, Manning responded to John Mara’s comment at the NFL owners’ meetings outside Dallas last week, that the coowner wants Manning Back in Blue in 2018.
“Yeah, I did see that, and hey, I want to be back next year, as well,” Manning said. “Again, I love playing for the New York Giants. I love this organization. I appreciate everything they’ve done for me and I’ve tried to give back everything that I have to this organization and to this team. So I want to be back, as well.”
“I still know I can play at a high level, make plays and make throws and win football games,” Manning added. “And it was good to go out there and make some nice plays.”
The debate about whether the Giants can and should bring Manning back in 2018 is nothing new.
It certainly seemed im- possible that this relationship could be mended almost three weeks ago when Mara’s, Jerry Reese’s and Ben McAdoo’s benching of Manning had him crying in front of his locker. And now it feels more likely than ever that Manning will be back next season as the Giants stubbornly start him to satisfy the angry fans and keep them coming to the games.
Only that looks even more embarrassing after Philly fans dominated Sunday’s stands. Many players claimed they didn’t hear the deafening “DEFENSE” chants in the fourth quarter for the road team, which was impossible. They were clearly instructed to avoid ownership’s most sensitive of subjects.
But missing from the Manning conversation the last few months has been any proof from Manning’s play on the field that he still has good football left in him.
Manning did come alive in the fourth quarter in Philadelphia in Week 3 and in Tampa in Week 4, and the Giants lost both games due to special teams and defense, not due to Manning’s performance. But even with a shorthanded offense due to injuries, Manning had opportunities to make plays and yet managed no more than 12 points in his last three starts prior to Sunday.
The Giants came in averaging 15.3 points per game (199 total points), ahead of only the 0-14 Cleveland Browns (15.2, 197 total points). The Giants hadn’t scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game all season and hadn’t scored three TDs in a single game since Week 5, when Beckham broke his ankle.
And then of course Manning engineered three straight touchdown drives to start Sunday’s home game against the Eagles, completing his first seven passes and scoring TDs on an Orleans Darkwa 1-yard TD run, a 13-yard Manning TD pass to Tavarres King, and a 67yard Sterling Shepard catch-and-run TD on a short pass from Manning.
The Eagles’ secondary clearly deserves a good amount of blame. Manning after that third touchdown had driven the Giants to six TDs, one field goal and a punt in a stretch of eight possessions dating back to that wild Week 3 fourth-quarter highlighted by Beckham’s dog-peeing act.
But Manning showed touch on Sunday and he had zip on his fastball and he looked comfortable.
“He was laser-focused and locked in,” tight end Evan Engram said. “He was stepping up in the pocket. He was being Eli. That’s just 10 being 10. That's the 10 we know, that's the 10 I’ve watched for so many years.”
The only problem, obviously, is that when Manning is playing like himself, he also turns the ball over, and his second-quarter interception to Ronald Darby undid a lot of what he did well early. The Giants’ 20-7 lead evaporated into a 21-20 deficit in a blink of an eye once the Eagles blocked a punt on the next Giants possession.
Manning also threw that fourth-down pass to Engram on the final drive much too high. The Giants quibbled about Engram being held, but Manning realistically never gave Engram a chance to catch the ball, even though the tight end insisted he would have been able to go up and get it.
Nevertheless, the Manning for 2018 train is full steam ahead. Rookie QB Davis Webb clearly isn’t going to play this season. Spagnuolo said Manning will start on Christmas Eve in Arizona.
Granted, having Manning here next season to play and nurture Webb and another top-three quarterback draft pick feels like a plan any GM and coach would sign on to. But what is the plan for the next attempted transition from Manning to the next quarterback? e already saw how Manning will react when he gets pulled. He says he believes he can still play and on Sunday for the first time in a long time he backed up that belief, and he still has two years left on his contract.
So what does this mean for next year’s Giants? Well, it means a difficult conversation just got even more complicated. And while the Giants will have a new GM and coach in 2018, it doesn’t appear at this point they will have a new quarterback, for better or worse.
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