STILL SUPER SLOW
Not-so-spry Eli a challenge for Pat
Mobility matters at the quarterback position more than ever in the NFL. Tom Brady is a glaring and all-time-great exception, but look at the majority of the league’s top quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Carson Wentz, Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck (when healthy) all are often dominant with their legs.
Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford can move. Drew Brees can dance. Deshaun Watson is electric. The NFC is full of QBs who do damage with their feet: Wentz, the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott, and both Washington’s outgoing (Kirk Cousins) and incoming (Alex Smith) starters.
Nick Foles, the Eagles’ Super Bowl MVP, isn’t a tuck-and-run player, but his elusiveness in the pocket is a major reason Philly won it all, including on what I felt was the play of the game: Foles danced away from pressure and threw on-target, off-balance, to tight end Zach Ertz for a two-yard gain on 4th-and-1 from the Eagles’ own 45-yard line with under five minutes left and New England up, 33-32.
And then there’s Eli Manning and the Giants, and the interesting question of how new head coach Pat Shurmur and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Mike Shula will build a thriving offense around Manning, 37, one of the least mobile quarterbacks in an increasingly athletic league at the most important position in the sport.
Manning, no doubt, managed a miraculous and legendary Super Bowl escape of a Patriots’ pass rush in Super Bowl XLII, hitting David Tyree for the famous helmetcatch on the Giants’ game-winning Super quarterback with a better ability to dance and deliver would have compensated for some of the personnel problems around Manning.
Now in step Shurmur and Shula, coming from two offenses with quarterbacks who can move:
Case Keenum ran play action extremely well and often for Shurmur last season in Minnesota.
Shula has coached Newton, meanwhile, for all seven of the Panthers QB’s NFL seasons. And Newton is one of the most imposing dual-threat QBs in league history.
Going back further in the coaches’ careers, in fact, Shurmur coached Donovan McNabb and a younger Foles in Philadelphia, and Shula developed a young David Garrard in Jacksonville.
Crafting an offense for Manning will be nothing like any of those experiences.
Manning, of course, has two Super Bowl wins and MVPs to his name, and there are still young QBs who work mostly from the pocket who appear to have bright futures, such as the Rams’ Jared Goff and the Raiders’ Derek Carr. The Giants’ offense also should have a ton of weapons, from a healthy Odell Beckham Jr. to Sterling Shepard to Evan Engram and more.
It just seems, though, that Shurmur will have to tinker significantly with his playbook, and Shula will have to adjust his mindset coaching Manning, too, to fit their quarterback’s specific set of skills.
This may only be a 2018 challenge, especially if the Giants draft Josh Rosen or Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield and get on the bandwagon of QBs with fancy feet to match their golden arms.
But before Shurmur and Shula groom Manning’s successor, their task in 2018 will be to win with the veteran quarterback himself. And that will require a much better offensive line, a consistently punishing running game, and no doubt some adjustment for the coaches in calling plays around not only Manning’s strengths, but his limitations.