The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Pressure on Manning if Darnold excels with Jets
NEW YORK — When the Giants drafted Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 overall pick last April, they made it clear that Eli Manning wouldn’t have to look over his shoulder at a bluechip young quarterback waiting to play.
As it turns out, though, there is another young quarterback looming in the background for Manning, even if he isn’t on the Giants’ roster.
The decision to draft Barkley paved the way for the Jets to take USC quarterback Sam Darnold with the third overall pick. And with Darnold quickly adjusting to the NFL by winning the starting job and playing well in the Jets’ stunning 48-17 Monday night win over the Lions, it is safe to say that Manning-Darnold comparisons won’t go away any time soon.
Manning himself would never let on that Darnold’s presence in New York bothers him. After all, we’re talking about one of the most unflappable athletes we’ve ever seen in this market, and Manning’s legendary composure is part and parcel of what has made him a likely Hall of Fame quarterback.
But if Darnold continues to show that he is ready to become the Jets’ franchise quarterback, the comparisons to Manning unquestionably will be a topic of conversation in the days, months and years ahead. It will be especially nettlesome for the Giants, particularly if Manning’s performance doesn’t live up to the expectations the Giants have placed on him. Expectations that were a major factor in their decision to go with Barkley, and not Darnold, in the draft.
I would argue there is as much pressure on Manning this season as almost any in his career. Not only does he need to operate the offense at a high level to get the most out of an elite set of skill position players, but he must do so while Darnold grows into what could be the answer the Jets have been searching for all these years.
It was a less-than-convincing 2018 debut for Manning in last week’s 20-15 loss to the Jaguars, who admittedly have one of the NFL’s best defenses. But Manning did miss a handful of key throws he should have made - including what would have been a critical touchdown pass to an open Odell Beckham Jr. in the third quarter. Manning also had a third-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown, although the ball deflected off a Jaguars’ defender with Manning under a heavy rush.
Yet there were enough flashes for Manning and his coaches to believe that continued work will produce more positive results as he gets better acclimated to Pat Shurmur’s system. Shurmur clearly wants to press the attack with long throws, something Manning wasn’t used to, especially in the previous two years under Ben McAdoo, whose unwillingness to challenge teams deep was a big part of his undoing.
Shurmur’s system is more reminiscent of the Kevin Gilbride offense, which pushed the envelope by employing longer routes that would challenge a defense instead of taking the underneath stuff. Manning won two Super Bowls with Gilbride as his offensive coordinator, and he did it by making some of his most iconic throws, especially in pressure situations.
He will be counted on now to make similar throws, and there is little margin for error. If last week’s debut showed anything, it pointed up Manning’s need to be sharper on more of his throws, especially the ones that come in critical situations.
He’ll need to be better in what has turned into a critical Week 2 matchup on Sunday night in Dallas, where the Cowboys are also looking for their first win of the season.
“I think the mindset is keep working, keep grinding,” Manning said. “We just got to play better ball. We got to make some plays here and there, clean some things up, get on the same page with how we’re doing things. There’s enough good things to build off and know we can go out there and play better football.”
If he does clean things up, as players and coaches like to say about correcting mistakes, then there is reasonable hope that Manning can continue as the Giants’ answer at quarterback. Part of the team’s draft-day calculations included the belief that Manning did, in fact, have good years left. That and the fact that general manager Dave Gettleman didn’t have the kind of conviction on any of this year’s quarterbacks that would prompt him to take one at No. 2 overall.
Gettleman’s plan was a godsend for Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, who had long believed that Darnold was the best quarterback prospect and had traded up from No. 6 to No. 3 to get in position to draft a passer. That it turned out to be Darnold was as ideal a situation as Maccagnan could have imagined.
And nothing about Darnold’s nascent career has swayed the Jets from their conviction about him. He convinced his coaches in training camp that he was ready for a starting — and starring — role. And after throwing an interception returned for a touchdown on his first offensive snap against the Lions, he settled down and helped the Jets to a dominating win.
That puts even more pressure on the 37-year-old Manning to elevate his game on a team built with a win-now mindset. With Darnold showing a national television audience that he is ready for prime time, it’s now on Manning to do the same in the Sunday night spotlight in Dallas.