Mara hints it’s no guarantee
New Giants GM Dave Gettleman said Friday that he intends at the moment to go into 2018 with Eli Manning as the Giants’ starting quarterback for next season. “Well as of now, yeah, yeah,” Gettleman said.
Gettleman gave the media the same line he gave co-owner John Mara in his Dec. 20 interview: “If what I saw (from Manning in Week 14 against) Philadelphia was not a mirage, and I don’t believe it was, then we’ll just keep moving.”
Mara admitted “it was encouraging to me” to hear such a positive opinion of Manning and stressed of his franchise QB: “I think he can still play at a high level.”
But Mara also became the first Giant executive, in explaining Manning’s landmark Week 13 benching in Oakland, to admit that at least part of that decision was based on Manning’s poor play prior.
Remember, on Thanksgiving, Manning and the Giants offense had scored three points, including 47 net yards and one first down in the entire second of a loss in Washington.
“I think we probably could have handled that better,” Mara said, adding: “You know, you can argue that a lot of different ways. From a pure football point of view, where we were as a team right then, getting a look at somebody else at quarterback was not the worst decision in the world. I think it could have been handled better and I take responsibility for that. I could have handled it better.”
That’s the truth, though. No one wants to admit it, but Mara, Jerry Reese and Ben McAdoo didn’t just put Geno Smith into a game to evaluate their future at the position. They were playing another quarterback because they thought he might play better than Manning, and in Oakland, Smith did.
Gettleman kept saying Wednesday he needs to watch all of the “film” on Manning “to see what’s cooking,” and what he’ll find in 2017 is a cafeteria full of hot messes. Not to mention Manning’s performance against the Eagles of 434 passing yards and three TDs also included a second-quarter interception to Philly corner Ronald Darby that turned the game. The Giants, up 20-7 at the time, lost 34-29.
Manning turns 37 years old on Wednesday, with two years left on his contract. And separate from the team’s flaws and injuries around him, he has not played well in 2017. He has not made enough plays.
Gettleman, 66, who was genuinely thrilled on Friday to accept his “dream” job as Giants GM, came off as refreshingly direct, knowledgeable and aware of the situation he enters.
His line of “we gotta fix the O-line, let’s be honest, let’s not kid each other,” was the smartest and most obvious comment anyone in East Rutherford has made in years. And Gettleman only just got to northern New Jersey late Thursday night, as the genial GM described in one of his many stories in his thick Boston accent. “I drove 10 hours last night and got up here at 10 o’clock at night, and let me tell you something, 14 degrees. I mean I only came from 34 so it wasn’t like a big, huge (difference), but it was a little breezy when I got my fanny out of the car,” Gettleman said to laughs, pronouncing his vehicle “cah.”
But reality is about to set in and become more complicated for Gettleman if he truly intends to rebuild the Giants quickly around Manning, which seems genuine after he also said he’s not going to pull strings to see rookie QB Davis Webb play real NFL snaps on Sunday.
“It’s Friday. We play the game on Sunday. What these (coaches) decided, they decided, OK? It is what it is,” Gettleman said.
Mara said “I expect us to be a good team in 2018.” Gettleman said he believes that good teams run the ball well, stop the run, and rush the passer effectively. And rebuilding the O-line and the running game definitely would be ingredients to building a third Super Bowl winner
Giants co-owner John Mara continued to back off his comments from training camp about giving wide receiver Odell Beckham a lucrative, long-term contract.
Following the press conference for new GM Dave Gettleman, Mara expressed he still wants Beckham to be a part of the Giants’ future, but left the door open to going a different route.
“I think I’ve got to sit with Dave and the new head coach around Manning under center.
But giving a healthy Odell Beckham Jr. a mega-contract extension, which would give Manning his best weapon back, is no guarantee this offseason after hearing Gettleman’s hard-line philosophies on player values and contracts.
Plus, even Gettleman admitted that Manning’s and Webb’s presences on this roster will not deter him from selecting a quarterback with the second or third overall pick in April’s draft.
“I don’t care what position it is: You can never have too many great players at one position,” Gettleman said. “You think about us (Giants in the past), we got (Michael) Strahan and . . Osi (Umenyiora), and we’re drafting (Justin) Tuck and we’re drafting (Mathias) Kiwanuka and people are looking at us like we have brain damage. You can never have too many great players at one position.” o if the Giants draft UCLA’s Josh Rosen or USC’s Sam Darnold or Wyoming’s Josh Allen, is Gettleman really going to tie his legacy as GM to a 37-yearold QB who already has shown signs of deteriorating?
“His philosophy on Eli is, ‘Let me sit down and look at the tape before I have a definitive answer for you,’” Mara added to clarify.
Fine. Someone get Gettleman some DVDs, a recliner and a notepad. Maybe he’ll change his mind.
Sand figure out exactly what is gonna happen here,” he said. “But let’s face it: players with his ability don’t come along very often, so yes I want him to be a part of this team’s future. As far as to when we actually do the contract, I think that’s up for discussion.”
Mara acknowledged that Beckham, as well as Eli Manning, was discussed in interviews with each GM candidate and “got pretty much the same answers from everybody on both those guys.”
Gettleman was asked specifically about Beckham more than any other player in his opening press conference Friday morning but it was a question about what he learned from dealing with players and agents as a GM for the Carolina Panthers that was perhaps the most revealing.
“(The players) don’t want to hear the value you put on them because it hurts their feelings. They’re sad. This is a big boy league. You got to put your big boy pants on now,” he said.
Beckham expressed that he wants to be the highest-paid player in the NFL this past summer