Eli & Co. still have some ’Skins left in the game
In good times, great times, bad times, terrible times and everything in-between, Eli Manning is a constant.
When the Giants are winning, he does not race into the end zone to celebrate with his teammates after touchdowns. When the Giants are losing, he does not call out a receiver for running the wrong route, ever.
There have been tough moments for Manning during his 15-year stay, but nothing like this. He does not offer much introspection for public consumption, yet there was a pained look in his eyes this past week as he was barraged with questions after his team traded away two defensive starters for future draft picks, the loud-as-roaring-thunder signal a rebuild is in place.
Rebuilds and 37-year old quarterbacks do not mix. The Giants are 1-6, and Manning’s hold on his job will slip away at some point in the second half of the season if the slide — currently at four straight — continues.
The Giants play host to the Redskins on Sunday, and the arrival of a divisionleading NFC East rival should be the time-and-place combination that gets the juices flowing. The only thing flowing from the Giants are players sliding out the door. Manning knows his teammates are reeling and he must hold his ground.
“I always assume guys are watching, and you want to make sure that you’re being a good leader, and you’re setting the example by your actions, and what you’re doing, and how you’re preparing,’’ Manning said. “They’re not going to see me relaxed a little bit or slip in preparation, or determination in practice, or preparation.’’
The expectation of winning is more a hope and a prayer for a franchise that is 4-19 in its past 23 regular-season games.
Though this coaching staff and the players will do all they can to win, the Giants’ front office traded away defensive tackle Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison and cornerback Eli Apple — and that is all about acquiring assets and saving money for the future, not about winning now.
Seeing the Redskins will be a bittersweet reminder for Manning. In Week 17 last season, the Giants were 2-13 and riding a four-game losing streak — having already fired general manager Jerry Reese and head coach Ben McAdoo and actually gearing up for 2018, having hired Dave Gettleman as the new general manager. The details and the outcome are stored in the annals of franchise history, but few will actually recall the Giants winning 18-10 in a New Year’s Eve game that ended with Manning, full of emotion, running off the field on the winning side — four weeks after his consecutive-game starting string ended at 210 games.
It was the first and only win for interim coach Steve Spagnuolo. It is nearly a brandnew team, but the losing ways remain.