Giants hoping never to see absentminded Eli again

S O that had to be an imposter wearing blue No. 10 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. That could not possibly have been Eli Manning, among the best and brightest we have had in our midst, our football Jeter, as flummoxed and confused and disoriented at the end as cool and calm and poised as he was at the end of Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. Except it was Eli Manning. It was Eli Manning who mistakenly thought the Cowboys had just one timeout instead of two once he got to the Dallas 4yard line.

It was Manning who instructed Rashad Jennings not to score on first and second down at a time inside the twominute warning when a touchdown would have given the Giants a 10point lead.

It was Eli Manning who chose to throw the ball out of the end zone on thirdandgoal at the 1 instead of eating clock with a running play. It was Eli Manning who absentmindedly failed to take the sack that would have kept the clock running down on Tony Romo. It was Eli Manning who could have left Romo with 49 seconds to win it but left him with 1:29 instead.

“My intent was to be up 10,” coach Tom Coughlin said.

It would have been nice if he had expressed that intent to his quarterback and/or offensive coordinator at a crucial time where the brain trust appeared to have a Moe, Larry and Curly brain lock.

Up 10 would have provided a cushion for a defense that no longer makes championship stands at the end of games and forced the Cowboys to recover an onsides kick once they managed to pull within three or seven points.

There is always more than meets the eye in these whodunits, because the quarterback never acts in a vacuum, and Manning did go over to the sidelines for consultation before second down, at the very least with offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, and the buck always stops with the head coach, who said he had no idea what Manning had decided to tell Jennings.

“Bad communication with them for that second down. I thought we were on the same page,” Manning said.

Manning, standup guy that he is, never has and never will throw anyone under the Big Blue bus.

“My mistake, that did not come from the sideline,” Manning said. “I can’t be the one to inform a back, that’s not my decision to do that in that scenario.”

Such is Coughlin’s trust in Manning, and McAdoo’s trust, that no one chose to remind him before the thirddown playaction playcall to take the sack if necessary.

“I completely trust Eli, always have,” Coughlin said. “He’s extremely into the game. He’s aware of all the circumstances, and as he comes over to the sideline, he relates what he sees and so on and so forth from his position. To be honest with you, nothing like that has ever happened. His mind was in the right place here, he just didn’t have the facts right, and unfortunately we didn’t get it corrected.”

Since 2004, they have been their franchise’s Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, just two rings lighter.

“The responsibility goes to me and nobody else,” Coughlin said.

A noble tack. Coughlin is going to the Hall of Fame, and more than anyone, it is Manning who will have driven him there.

Manning, more than Steve Spagnuolo, more than anyone, is Coughlin’s last line of defense following three straight seasons out of the playoffs, and the $84 million question is whether he will be up to the challenge.

This is hardly Herman Edwards and The Fumble in 1978, which led to a new coach (Ray Perkins) and a new general manager (George Young) and the drafting of a new quarterback (Phil Simms). Let’s call it The Bumble instead. Manning offered a “My bad” mea culpa on Monday to his offensive teammates.

“It hurts,” Manning said, “but it’s supposed to hurt.”

Coughlin and Manning have had the wherewithal to weather countless storms together, and another 01 start that already felt like another 06 start to many Giants fans on Blue Monday is the latest.

The season is by no means lost, even if the Cowboys, as long as Dez Bryant returns in a month, and Eagles look better than the Giants on paper, which would lead one to believe that the Giants’ season, and by extension another extension beyond 2016 for Coughlin, is hanging on a wing and a prayer. Manning’s wing. “Our players feel very badly today,” Coughlin said, “but we’ll bounce back.”

For his sake, the imposter who showed up wearing No. 10 better not show up again.