Gilbride Wants Giants, Manning to Go Deep

Apparently Kevin Gilbride wasn't paying attention in 2005, when Eli Manning, then under the guidance of Offensive Coordinator John Hufnagel, was criticized heavily for attempting too many down-field passes. Indeed, many of those ill-fated passes fell incomplete, or into the hands of Giants opponents. Gilbride now appears comfortable with his assessment of Eli Manning as a more developed quarterback and has seen enough to come to the conclusion that Manning is ready for a bigger role in the down-field attack.

Gilbride recently was quoted as saying that the down-field attack was "missing" this past season and that the success of the running game should open things up for the down-field passing attack. Gilbride must be careful with Manning, however, as his difficulties reading a defense and just getting the ball to his intermediate targets are well documented. To ask Manning to incorporate a lower percentage play than can result in disaster (more often than a higher percentage play) and could stunt the mental progression of the young, developing quarterback.

Should Manning be asked to take on this task, he should be asked to do it as infrequently as possible. During his two games as Offensive Coordinator in 2006, Gilbride showed that he'll rely on the run (65 attempts) and Manning's mistakes were kept to a minimum during those contests. Giants fans should hope that Gilbride keeps his senses about him and continues to rely on the run in 07. If he tries to turn Eli into Peyton or Brett Favre, it could be a very long season.