ELI’S STILL GOT IT
Manning shows Giants front office he has enough left for another Super run, and they need to plan as such
PEYTON Manning won the second Super Bowl of his career with the Denver Broncos last season and then rode off into the sunset at age 39.
Everyone knew it was going to be The Sheriff’s last year. He could barely move by the end. He couldn’t make many of the throws that had looked effortless most of his career. It was time, and he won again on the backs of the NFL’s best defense before it was too late.
Little brother Eli, a two-time Super Bowl winner himself, turned 36 on Jan. 3. And so there is suddenly rampant discussion of Manning’s eventual successor after the Giants’ 38-13 blowout Wild Card loss in Green Bay last Sunday. But it must be said: 2017 Eli is not 2015 Peyton. Not even close.
And it’s not just because he’ll be three years younger next fall than his older brother Peyton was when he captured that coveted next championship; it’s also because even after Eli’s down year of 2016, his elevated playoff performance against the Packers should remind everyone of something very important:
Eli’s still got it. Jerry Reese understandably is getting the most attention for saying Monday that the Giants “have started to think about who is the next quarterback.” The Giants GM is correct to be planning for the future at QB, too.
But Reese’s review of Manning’s performance this season was just as telling, even if it flew under the radar.
“I wouldn’t say it was a down year,” Reese said of Manning’s 26 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. “I just think that offensively as a whole it didn’t function as a unit like we thought it would.”
Translation: I, the general manager, recognize that I didn’t give Eli much to work with. Well, Reese would never say that, but that’s the truth.
Consider that 11 players start on an NFL offense, including five skill position players if you include tight end, five offensive linemen, and a quarterback. Then recognize that three of the five skill position players who topped the Giant offense’s depth chart in Week 1 were replaced as starters or primary targets by season’s end.
Receiver Victor Cruz, tight end Larry Donnell and running back Rashad Jennings all had their roles reduced or eliminated. Plus Shane Vereen, the Giants’ second-leading 2015 receiver, was basically hurt and unavailable after tearing his triceps in Week 3.
That made Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard Manning’s only reliable, season-long starters. And then they each dropped two passes, including one touchdown apiece, early in Sunday’s playoff game to squander all the darts Manning was slinging around the field.
Think about it: What was Manning working with here? And put out of your mind the preseason hype of how explosive this offense was going to be with Beckham, Cruz and Shepard all on the field. Even Reese agreed. “I thought he was in a really good rhythm (in Green Bay),” Reese said of Manning. “We were protecting, running the ball a little bit, he was hitting guys, and we just had some untimely drops right there that hurt him.”
Compounding the personnel issues, of course, were Ben McAdoo’s predictable play-calling, pass protection problems at both tackle positions, and an inability to run the ball.
Defenses too often were able to shut down the Beckham deep threat and the Giants offense — which, in effect, are the same thing — by simply playing a Cover-2 base defense with two safeties high and defending deep.
Manning has plenty of freedom at the line of scrimmage, and the way to force one of those safeties down to the line of scrimmage is to audible to running plays against two-high safety looks and gash them until they commit more numbers to the run. But the Giants couldn’t run the ball well enough to do that.
The offense’s starting lineup in Green Bay also featured a rookie running back, a rookie receiver, a third-year superstar receiver with no playoff experience and a disastrous second-year left tackle.
You had to feel for Manning on breakup day when he acknowledged that the young roster was not yet on the same wavelength as its veteran quarterback, who knows his time is ticking.
“We didn’t have a lot of people that have been to the playoffs,” Manning said. “You hate to say that it’s a learning experience for a group. I hate to say that when I’m in my 13th year, but sometimes guys just have to go through it and see what it’s like, understand that they can’t make it bigger than what it is.”
Now, all of that said, there is no question Manning had a below-average year.
His 86.0 passer rating, 4,207 passing yards, 6.7 yards per completion average, 16 interceptions and 20 total turnovers all were worsts in his three seasons running McAdoo’s offense.
But Manning didn’t look old or tired, which was a result of managing his fitness more closely as he gets up there in age. He seemed less accurate, but his 63.0 completion percentage was higher than 2015 (62.6), and it wasn’t like velocity was noticeably absent.
Manning’s velocity, in fact, was there in spades in Green Bay. He was throwing heaters.
“(Eli) is taking care of himself really well, and I thought he finished the season strong,” Reese said.
Planning for life after Manning is important and necessary, but this two-time Super Bowl MVP has three years left on his contract, plenty of zip left on his fastball if Green Bay is any indication, and still might have what it takes to take the Giants the distance.
If, of course, the team helps get him back into the dance.