PURPLE DAZE
Eli looks to break long-lasting spell vs. Vikings
ELI Manning says he has “no general thoughts’’ about purple, but longtime teammate Victor Cruz is convinced it is not his quarterback’s favorite color.
“I think that’s what it might be,’’ Cruz on Wednesday told The Post. “It’s not mine, I can tell you that. I’m just joking around. Statistically it is what it is.’’
Statistically, what it happens to be, mostly, is a disaster for Eli Manning, who is preparing for a “Monday Night Football” meeting with the unbeaten Vikings at their new U.S. Bank Stadium. It will be start No. 8 for Manning against the team that gives him more trouble than any other.
Manning has started seven times against the Vikings and never, ever has played a great game. Most have been far less than great, usually approaching awful. One of them, the 2008 season finale, can be graded as incomplete, as he was in for the first half and then took a seat, with the No. 1 seed in the NFC already locked up. Only once, in 2013, has Manning been able to throw more touchdown passes than interceptions.
He has endured repeated indignities at the hands of a franchise that spawned the name Purple People Eaters to describe its defense. Of the 14 interceptions in the seven games, five of them have been brought back for touchdowns. So, when facing the Vikings, Manning has coughed up as many touchdown returns as he has thrown touchdown passes. Purple Haze, purple haze.
To this litany of woe — the Giants are 2-5 in his seven games against the Vikings and his passer rating is a dismal 54.76 — Manning pleads ignorance, though if you know anything at all about the Giants’ franchise man, you suspect he knows plenty more than he’s willing to let on.
A theory as to why he struggles so against the Vikings?
“Nope,’’ Manning said. “Look forward to this one and go out there and try to play well.’’
Surely he knows his numbers when playing the Vikings. “I do not,’’ he said, and laughed. Perhaps not every number, but he must acknowledge the general concept of his struggles when he confronts the Vikings.
“I do not know that,’’ he said. “It’s about the next one. Only the next one.’’ OK, Eli will not play along. His most recent pass, directed at Shane Vereen, was intercepted to seal the Redskins’ 29-27 victory, handing the Giants their first loss. The Vikings have the sixth-rated defense in the NFL and are coming off an eight-sack pummeling of Cam Newton and the Panthers. Eli knows what awaits him. He also knows how the Vikings have treated him throughout his career.
The names have certainly changed on the Minnesota defense in the span of 13 years. Heck, Manning has gone against four different Vikings defensive coordinators since first tangling with Minnesota in 2005.
“I don’t know, it’s just one of those things, each game is different, each team is different, every team that Eli had going into those games has been different,’’ Cruz said.
Manning has been involved in some fairly dreadful losses to the Vikings: 41-17 in New Jersey, 44-7 inside the now-deflated Metrodome and last year’s 35-point shellacking. It does not make much sense, but sometimes — logic be damned — a team has the goods on someone.
“No, we don’t believe in that at all, not this team,’’ Xavier Rhodes, a Vikings starting cornerback, told The Post. “We don’t go into games thinking, ‘Oh, we got this guy’s number’ because anything is bound to happen.’’
All right, one last chance for introspection from Eli. Do the Vikings have your number?
“I don’t think, ah, I don’t think anybody has my phone number on the Vikings,’’ Manning said, enjoying himself. “Maybe [former teammate] Linval [Joseph], I’m not sure. I’m trying to think if I have anybody’s number. Maybe somebody, I’m sure. Bradford! I think I got Sam Brad- ford’s number. He’s got my number. I can’t think of anybody else’s off hand. I’ll look in my phone and get back to you on that one.’’
The Giants expect nothing to linger with Manning.
“I mean, if there’s one thing he does well is that bounce back,’’ Cruz said. “Being able to bounce back and feel good again about himself.’’
Manning will not give any credence to his Vikings issues, but he does take pride in his ability to shake off and move on.
“Just because one game wasn’t your best or the year before or whatever, you can’t worry about it,’’ he said. “Be confident in your ability and go out and do it.’’
Next up, the Vikes. Yikes.