The NY Giants have really stepped in it. Up to their eyeballs. Sitting Eli is the right thing to do in one sense, but the reasons for it are all wrong.
The only reason to unceremoniously dump Eli is if the Giants intend a rebuild. And I have a hunch this rebuild will begin in the FO, then the HC at season's end. I suppose they could think that at least Eli is healthy; and healthy he has trade value. So, get him off the field and out of harms way.
But let's also consider the facts: Eli is a month shy of being 37 years old. Don't let the Tom Brady age thing distract from the norm; 37 year old QBs are done. That one QB comes along every 2 or 3 decades and is able to play efficiently for longer doesn't matter. Eli has been very average for a while now.
He has a lifetime QBR of 84. Not bad, but not Tom Brady of 111. Or Kurt Warner of 94.
Eli has been a very good QB, but not a QB that carries a team on his back. He's like most very good QBs: he needs a good supporting cast to function. The injuries and depletion of talent on this year's Giant's team isn't sufficient for Eli to function like he used to. But on the other hand, he's past his prime.
On the other hand: Geno friggin' Smith??!!! As though he's some unknown quantity?? And the kid from Cal? That's who they need to try to find out what they have, not Geno Smith. But here's the problem with that thinking: if the supporting cast is so poor that Eli Manning can't function in it, what's it going to be like for a rookie? Will they really be able to tell much of anything from the change? Davis is being set up for failure.
Look at the Goff situation. The Rams figured they weren't going anywhere in 2016, so on a horrible team with bad coaching they throw a non-ready 22 year old kid onto the field at QB and he looks lost and befuddled. The Bust label was applied liberally by fans and media. So if 2016 was the evaluation period for Goff, he failed miserably as far as stats and results go. The difference between Goff and Davis is that Goff was the 1st pick in the draft, so no matter how terrible 2016 turned out, he was going to be handed the job in 2017. If Davis has similar results (and he will) you can bet that the Giants will be in the Kirk Cousins lottery and they will figure that Davis isn't the guy. Unfair and frankly illogical.
Where might Manning go? Many think Jax. I just think that Jacksonville is not as good as some believe. I think Arizona would be a better fit with Arians at least partly because Fitzgerald has re-upped for another year and David Johnson will return for next year. Denver? Perhaps. But I'm not sure that Manning is the real answer for their QB woes......at 37.....and I don't think they're a QB away from a SuperBowl run.
On the other hand might Manning call it a career? I think that's a distinct possibility. He is a wealthy man who no doubt has planned for the day he retires from the NFL. He is also very idealistic, just as when he let it be known that he didn't want to do a deal where he starts the remaining games, but then gets pulled, in order to keep his consecutive games played streak alive. But can he stand the idea of being dumped this way as the end to his career? Or can he be a lifetime Giant but then go play for another team as a transitional QB?
Stay tuned for another in the saga of "As the Stomach Turns".
But this all could have been handled so much better. They could have made Eli part of the inner circle and figured a way for him and the Giants to save face. As it is now, this reminds me of the ham handed, stupid way that Warner was run out of town in St. Louis. And what followed? Football Hades for the next 1 1/2 decades.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2017 02:58AM by RockRam.
