And We’re Back!
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- November
- 27
Howdy again, folks. Sorry about the absence, but the monkey that runs on the treadmill that powers the electricity that keeps these blogs running ran off for a couple of days, and we were down while the animal warden went to find him.
So what do you expect from somebody who earns peanuts?
Hey, wait a minute. Compared to my paycheck, peanuts sounds pretty good.
But I digress. We’re back now. You all must know about that nasty, ugly 41-17 loss to the Vikings Sunday. No blogs, of course. But what you would have read was this.
Pick, touchdown. Pick, no touchdown, but touchdown a play later. Pick, touchdown. Pick, touchdown.
Not a good pattern. Not good? It was the worst display ever by a Giants quarterback. Of course, it raised all the same issues with Eli Manning whenever he takes a loss, including the public ruckus he caused when he refused to run a hari-kari blade across his abdomen in his postgame press conference. Too nonchalante about things, they said.
The callers and writers and talking heads said a lot of other things about him, too. Typical lack of leadership stuff, and the Giants will never win with this guy.
I’ll tell you what I think. We learned long ago from Trent Dilfer that any quarterback can win a Super Bowl. And I believe that Eli Manning is capable of winning one, too. What I’m starting to believe he’ll never do, though, is hoist a team on his back and will it to victory.
Phil Simms could do that. Joe Montana did it many times. Manning’s brother Peyton can do it, and so can Tom Brady and Brett Favre. They’re a rare breed, though. Eli is not one of those.
For him to win, everything has to be working. The line has to block, the defense has to keep the opponent to respectable levels, and the running game has to be effective. Do that, and Manning can generally manage a game well enough to win. That may never make him an elite quarterback, but it could make him a Super Bowl winner at some point.Which brings us to a question. Do you guys feel comfortable with Manning at the controls? If you had your choice of quarterbacks outside of Brady, Favre, Peyton Manning, and Tony Romo, who would you put in there. And no fair saying Rex Grossman. We want to be analytical, not cruel.
Okay, that’s it. It’s my turn to give the monkey his lunch.
Union labor. Gotta love it.
Ciao for now.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 11:52 am by Ernie Palladino.
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Ernie Palladino
Hi Ernie ,I think Eli also runs this blog .I agree with you about Eli ,he may win a super bowl one day ,but it won’t be with the Giants, he doesn’t seem capable of leading a team to victory on blood and guts,for Eli to win the stars must be in alignment and everything perfect.I would take Jeff Garcia over him ,I think a guy like Garcia could propel a team in the playoffs further than Eli can. There’s just something I just don’t like about Manning ,at times he may show a flash of brilliance but he can’t sustain it,he’s mediocre at best,some argue that his record for 50 games still shows promise,but if you watch him game after game he doesn’t inspire confidence for the future for most fans.But 18 million is a big hit in the cap,so we’re stuck with him unless he really goes downhill fast with the remainder of this season and next,Coach Tom will bear the brunt of Manning’s ineptitude.
The biggest problem with Manning is he is useless when the play breaks down. I’m so sick of watching the Giant defense pressure the QB only to watch him escape and make a big play down field. We NEVER see that with Eli. And we never will. You could live with it if Eli had above average accuracy but he doesn’t even complete 60% of his passes. I would take Roethlisberger, Derek Anderson, Cutler, Schaub, Garrard, Rivers, Brees, Hasselbeck, Bulger, Garcia and Campbell over Eli in a heartbeat. I’d also think hard about Kitna and McNab too. EA you stink!!!!!!
P.S. I think you forgot to add Carson Palmer to your list of QB’s that are obvious choices over Manning in your article.
Brian:
You’re right. Palmer should probably be in there. I’m a little surprised, though, at your choice of Kitna, a guy who’s never done anything, and a broken down McNabb. Bulger, too. You must really hate Eli.
If you’ve watched the Giants for any number of years you saw this one coming. A substitute quarterback has the game of his life, the Giants give up big plays, they don’t adjust quickly or well to something they didn’t expect, and they lose. The clincher for me was Pierce revealing the Giants’ defensive game plan in the Sunday papers. The Viking offensive coordinator ran the ball once to see if the Giants really were going to crowd the line and then threw a bomb for a TD. The offense didn’t have to do much after that because Eli gave them 21 of their points.
The amazement expressed by the players and coach after the game told me clearly that they did not respect the Vikings. After a Miami game that they almost blew, the Giants have no excuses for taking anyone lightly.
I can’t believe that Manning and Shockey are having communication problems this late in the season. According to the papers they couldn’t agree on what a “hot� situation was. Even if that was true for the first interception, the coaches should have sat them down on the sidelines and solved the problem before the offense took the field again.
It does look like everything has to be working for Eli to be successful. I’d still like to see him run more.
I said I’d give Kitna and Mcnab a long look. If you’re just talking one year I’d probaly take Kitna, who is completing 70% of his passes, McNab and Bulger over Eli. If I have to keep him for years then the younger and healthier Eli would get the nod.
I agree with Ernie that Eli cannot carry the
team on his back.
That said, the entire offense has been lousy
the last several games, starting with barely
beating Miami in London, 13-10.
Burress is gimpy; Toomer has lost a step and
is nearing the end, I think, and Moss is so
small Eli can’t find him…or so it seems.
The O-line hasn’t been much good lately, either,
when it comes to the passing game.
The Giants need Steve Smith back, and they need Ward
and Jacobs ASAP. I’m also really wondering about
some of the play-calling.