SNAP DECISION GOES TO ELI
Giants look like they’ll stick with Manning, for now
When Dave Gettleman embraced Eli Manning, still in full uniform, outside Sunday’s postgame locker room, the new Giants GM looked to be assuring his franchise quarterback once and for all, in his thick Boston accent, “Youah my 2018 stahtah.”
Manning tried to dial down the drama by claiming Gettleman simply “said congratulations and we’ll talk soon.”
Manning said he heard Gettleman’s endorsement of Manning for 2018 in the GM’s Friday introductory press conference and stressed: “I always think the talks in person are more important than what’s said in the media. So we’ll have a discussion and I look forward to that.”
He added: “I just wanted to finish the season and then I knew we’d talk sometime and figure out what direction he wants to go in and hopefully I’m part of that plan.”
And Manning even was willing to reiterate for the record: there is no doubt he wants to return to the Giants, even after contributing to the worst season in franchise history, at 3-13 with an 18-10 win inside a frigid MetLife Stadium.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” said Manning, who turns 37 years old on Wednesday with two years left on his contract. “I don’t want to go play football anywhere else. This is where I want to play, this is my family, the New York
Giants. So hopefully they feel the same way and we can make that work out.”
And so the plan to rebuild around Manning appears to be full steam ahead, considering co-owner John Mara stressed that Gettleman’s support for Manning in his GM interview was “encouraging,” Gettleman answered in the affirmative Friday when asked about Manning starting in 2018, and now Manning still says he wants to stay.
There is, of course, significant evidence to conclude that the Giants should move on from Manning, including Manning’s 48.5 passer rating in this season finale, 10-of- 28 for 132 yards, one TD, one interception, four more near-interceptions, and a second TD dropped by tight end Jerell Adams.
The Giants also now are locked in with the No. 2 overall pick in April’s draft, and while Penn State running back Saquon Barkley is a tantalizing talent, the opportunity to take a top-tier quarterback such as UCLA’s Josh Rosen, USC’s Sam Darnold or Wyoming’s Josh Allen could be too great.
“We’ll see,” Manning said. “Obviously, we’ve got a while until April, so we’ll know a lot more by then.”
But really, if the Giants truly are sticking with Manning, it’s almost like Mara and the Giants are clinging to that storybook ending for the face of their franchise, trying to take a mulligan at what Jerry Reese was supposed to do with this 2017 Giants team: build one last Super Bowl contender around Manning for ring No. 3.
The crowd chanted “Eli Manning!” in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win, similar to the chants of Manning’s name in Oakland four weeks prior, one day before Mara threw Reese and Ben McAdoo under the bus for implementing a plan Mara had signed off on.
Mara was stung by the fan backlash to his decision to transition away from Manning, somehow surprised by Manning’s hurt reaction to the Giants’ intentions, and by Manning’s benching, so much so that Mara completely abandoned his plan to take a look at rookie QB Davis Webb in a game.
The Giants went so far as to activate Webb for Sunday’s game and make him sit on a freezing bench for four quarters, not giving him a single snap in his first game in uniform. They missed a valuable opportunity to evaluate Webb, and perhaps they are already telling us what they think about Webb’s ability by showing no confidence in him.
But really this seems like a reclamation project on the part of Mara and the Giants, to undo the catastrophic embarrassment they caused when they showed their true colors and intentions with Manning’s benching in late November for a Dec. 3 game against the Raiders, forcing their quarterback into tears at his locker.
Basically, the Giants are trying to apologize to Manning and keep one of their most beloved players in the family by, well, keeping him in the family.
Manning, after all, may have not played well in 2017 but was one of many victims of Reese’s inability to address the offensive line or to add significant depth to the roster, and of some teammates’ quitting on the field.
“It’s probably been my toughest year of football, I would say,” Manning admitted. “Obviously with the losses, with the injuries, with a benching and coming back and uncertainty and everything going on. But really, the losses more than anything probably (hurt).”
I still believe, given Manning’s tearful reaction to being benched this fall, that Manning’s “100 percent” desire to stay a Giant easily could decrease to 50-50 if Gettleman drafts a quarterback and the new head coach, be it Josh McDaniels or someone else, makes clear that QB will play at some point in his rookie year.
But until and unless that happens, the Giants’ “Sorry, Eli” tour rolls on, as Mara and the Giants scrub away at 2017, hoping the stain comes out.