Of course everyone knew where Eli came from. The Mannings by that point in time were considered football royalty. His father, Archie Manning, also an Ole Miss alum, had a great college career and was drafted second overall by the New Orleans Saints in 1971. His NFL career was somewhat uneventful, to say the least, as he ended up playing for three different teams. Now, Eli's brother Peyton on the other hand had both an excellent college career at Tennessee and by the time his little brother was drafted, already had six NFL seasons under his belt. Peyton was drafted number one overall in 1998 by the Indianapolis Colts. He would go on to start his rookie season and break multiple NFL rookie quarterback records. He had already received the NFL Most Valuable Player honors in 2003 and had taken his team deep into the playoffs a couple times.
Needless to say, after draft day Eli was already under the microscope and expected to do great things in the NFL. The Giants as a team had been struggling at the QB position for many years before Eli was drafted and his young spirit and knowledge of the game were a bright spot for the future of the organization. The Giants starting QB at the time was an aging and battered Kurt Warner. After his storied success with the St. Louis Rams, between the 1999 and 2001 seasons where he went to two Super Bowls (winning one) and being honored with MVP accolades twice, Warner had started getting injured and his age was beginning to catch up to him. Eli got his chance when he started his first NFL game on November 21, 2004 and the rest was history. Since that start 13 years ago, Manning has won two Super Bowls, been named Super Bowl MVP twice, climbed up the NFL and Giants record books for multiple categories and has started 210 consecutive games (222 including playoffs) which is the 2nd most All-Time only behind Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Farve.
Unfortunately, that consecutive start streak is about to come to and end at 4:25pm Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, December 3, 2017. In a shocking and dumbfounded decision, head coach Ben McAdoo decided to go ahead and sit Manning in this coming Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders. In his place will start Geno Smith. The former West Virginia standout and former starting quarterback for the New York Jets, Smith has had an interesting NFL career up until this point. McAdoo even said that rookie quarterback David Webb (Texas Tech/Cal) could even see some reps before the end of the season. McAdoo told Manning that he could still start and keep his streak alive but Manning politely declined and basically said it wouldn't have the same meaning knowing he wouldn't be staying in the game and helping his team try and win.
Now if you have been following football at all this year you know by now that the Giants are statistically out of the playoffs and this pretty much signifies the end of their season as we know it. Coming into the season with such high hopes the team's troubles started early on and after multiple key injuries the troubles have not stopped since. It has been a down year for every single person that is a part of the Giants organization from the front office to the in-house intern. Even a casual fan can see that something is not going right. Albeit, Manning is unfortunately a key aspect of the team that seems to be taking the brunt of the down year. Actually, ever since the Giants last Super Bowl win in 2011, Manning has been slowly declining in his play on the field. But whether or not you think benching Manning is or is not the solution you can't trash the guy for the other problems the team has been facing this season.
Let's not forget the issues with solidifying the offensive line to protect Manning that has been going on for years now. One thing about Manning is he will protect himself first and foremost. If he's getting pressured he's either gonna throw the ball away (which sometimes leads to bad decisions and interceptions) or he is going to hit the dirt and take a sack. You aren't going to see Eli go off running like Cam Newton and break off a huge gain. Up until this week Eli has been sacked more times than he did all last season and there are still five games left so imagine that. Manning has seen line-up changes all across the o-line pretty much every single week this year. Let's not forget that 90% of his receiving core is banged up and he can't seem to find chemistry with any of the ones playing now. Oh and that billion dollar defense that was created in the off-season it's clear has nothing to play for now and has quit. Manning is not without fault here. He's accuracy and arm strength has dropped over the past few years. His decision making at times seems foggy and doesn't make any sense. Manning is part of the problem there's no question about that. However, he should not be held liable for all the blame of the Giants downfalls and shortcomings this season. Sure Manning is obviously not the long-term future at QB for the Giants (he turns 37 in about a month) but for McAdoo to go about it the way that he did is unacceptable and down-right unjustified. If the Giants don't like firing coaches mid-year then they shouldn't fire quarterbacks mid-year either!
Thankfully, Eli Manning is a class act and he will take the decision like a professional and not cause a big scene about it. Love him or hate him you can't be mad at the guy for embracing a market like New York and still being able to do what he did for the Giants over the past 13 years as a starter for this team. Sure, he had his ups and downs along the way, every QB does, but that doesn't mean he deserved for this to happen to him in this way. If the Giants actually had an up and coming rookie QB they had been grooming to take Eli's place for a couple seasons then I could maybe accept this to some degree. But that is NOT the case. Geno Smith is a washed up former starting QB turned back-up and then was released. David Webb is an unproven rookie who only has five games left in the season to possibly win a starting job? Both these scenarios are not promising for Giants faithful who saw one young QB not pan out a few years earlier when the Giants drafted Ryan Nassib out of Syracuse in 2013. So the odds are not in Webb's favor at the present time. But hey, you never know.
If this is indeed the last we will see Manning in a Giants uniform, or on any NFL team for that matter, you cannot deny that he will go down as the greatest Giants QB of all-time and should be in the discussion for at least one of the top 15 to 20 greatest NFL quaterbacks of all-time. He will be in the Hall of Fame, maybe even first ballot. He has been critical in bringing back the Giants organization from it's low points of the late 90s and early 2000s to make them a meaningful franchise again throughout his career. All I can say is that I wish nothing but the best for Eli and his family and godspeed for whatever happens next for him in his career. He is one of that last few in a dying breed of respectable and outright professional NFL players who not only understand the game for what it is but understand the business aspect of it as well. I've read that Manning wants to play into his 40s, which we all know is that magical number where NFL QBs supposedly drop off dramatically, but that day may not come now. If I were Manning I would use this time to seriously consider my next options. He can't be traded due to the no trade clause in his contract which he requested because he wanted to be a Giant until the end of his career. Unless there is some way to scratch that clause. So the only two options he has is to ride the bench and see how long it takes for the organization to come crawling back to him or retire. My advice Eli, as hard as it may be to do, call it a career. You've given your heart and soul to the New York Football Giants and any real fan will respect you no matter what. It may not seem like the respectable way to go out but it will be the less dramatic. We all know New York loves drama.
-RNN
@ryannnelson87
