Team humiliates two-time Super Bowl MVP as they move forward with Geno Smith, Davis Webb
Eli Manning, a native son often referred to as one of the NFL’s blue bloods, the face of formerly one of the most respected franchises in sports, on Tuesday was made the scapegoat for the abysmal New York Giants.
Coach Ben McAdoo basically asked the franchise’s two-time Super Bowl MVP and starting quarterback since 2004 to stand at the door of the stadium and wave to fans as a charity case. Why not hand him a bell and ask for spare change for the Giants while he’s at it?
They wanted him to start games going forward to help maintain his consecutive game streak, which was the second-longest by a quarterback in NFL history at 210, only to yank him regardless of the score to catch a glimpse of Geno Smith and Davis Webb. Manning declined that offer.
The Giants broke the news to the world with a story from their website with the headline «Geno Smith to start at quarterback on Sunday.»
What a way to essentially kick one of the franchise’s best players to the curb.
The Giants are mired in football hell at 2-9. Why not let Manning finish out the season with an injury-depleted and talent-depleted offense around him and ride off into the sunset after the season? How is this the right move?
Anyone with half a brain and 10 percent of a soul knows it’s not the right way to handle the situation.
The team parked the camera stark in front of Manning’s locker and waited for him to give his thoughts, and hold back his tears, on the worst day of his professional life with the message on Twitter saying: «WATCH: Eli Manning reacts to the announcement that he will not start on Sunday.»
WATCH: Eli Manning reacts to the announcement that he will not start on Sunday pic.twitter.com/nQoPEcfTl3
What a gutless move in a series of ungrateful decisions by the Giants to humiliate Manning by taking his role away and then benefiting from said unmindful choices just for some video clicks.
Stay classy, New York Giants.
It was hard to watch Manning fight through his Tuesday press gathering. This hurt Manning to the core. He knows he didn’t deserve this sendoff.
«Starting just to keep the streak going and knowing you won’t finish the game and have a chance to win it is pointless to me, and it tarnishes the streak,» Manning said. «Like I always have, I will be ready to play if and when I am needed. I will help Geno and Davis prepare to play as well as they possibly can.»
As his father, Archie, explained at a banquet in Jackson, Miss., on Tuesday night, Eli knew at some point the Giants would move on from him as their quarterback. It’s blatantly obvious when general manager Jerry Reese scouted USC vs. UCLA, better known as the Sam Darnold-Josh Rosen Bowl, in person.
But it shouldn’t have ended like this.
«Eli’s going to be put down, and we knew it was probably inevitable,» Archie said via WAPT-TV. «But it’s OK. He’ll handle it. It’s like he told me (Monday) night, ‘It’s going to happen.’ He said, ‘They’re going to start me, but they’re going to take me out even before they know how the game goes.’ And he said, ‘Because I’ve got a record going.’ I said, ‘Well what do you think about that?’ He said, well I won’t say exactly what. It was one word and half the word was bull.
«So he got that straight (Tuesday) with them that he didn’t want to tarnish that record by being a token starter. He said, ‘I’ll handle it, but I don’t like it.’
«And I said that’s a good attitude, and I’m proud of him for the way he handled it.»
It’s one thing to bench Eli Manning if he’s the reason why the Giants are playing poorly. When you bench him for one of the poster-children of the downfall of the other franchise to share MetLife Stadium, now that adds another wad of phlegm smack in the face.
Replacing Manning with Davis Webb would at least make more sense; the Giants selected Webb in the latest NFL Draft back in April. But lifting Manning for Smith for any period of time is one of the most tone-deaf moves I’ve seen in sports in some time.
The New York tabloids splashed Geno Smith across their back pages for years. They mocked the failed Jets quarterback at every interception and at every punch in the face from a former teammate. Everyone at Giants headquarters reads the newspapers.
Either the Giants are fully aware of how this looks and they don’t care, or they’re not aware and total buffoons. Both options are pitiful.
And they’re paying for it in the public relations department. Reese and Coach Ben McAdoo will eventually pay for it when they lose their jobs.
I’m sure Eli doesn’t feel great about his current situation. Keep standing tall, Eli. You’re the man with Giant integrity through this whole debacle surrounding you.
Not the ones trying to desecrate the legacy you built with the Giants.
