Say what you will about Eli Manning but good or bad, win or lose, he's never boring.
He was as bad through the first three quarters of today's game with the Chicago Bears as he's ever been and you could almost read the back pages of tomorrow's New York tabloids. "Eli's Goin'" they'd say or "Oh Mann-ing, Not Again." But then he goes and leads a fourth quarter comeback on the road in crummy weather and keeps the Giants in the driver's seat of the Wild Card race with a 21-16 victory.
Manning's second pass was intercepted by Brian Urlacher, he just dropped a ball in the second quarter to set up a Bears field goal and got picked off in the end zone at the end of the third quarter prompting Giant fans to flood email, cell phones and telegraphs with messages of hatred for their quarterback. But then, when all hope appeared lost, Manning earned himself a reprieve and a rebirth. Like Marty McFly's family portrait at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, those headlines were rewritten and those text messages turned from ire to disbelief.
He found Amani Toomer for a touchdown to cap an 11-play, 75 yard drive and then took the Giants 77 yards in nine plays for a Ruben Droughns touchdown and a win that all but ends the playoff hopes for the defending NFC Champions.
It wasn't just Manning that caused the Bears to lose. They did plenty of work on their own. Receivers dropped passes all night, including Rashied Davis and Bernard Berrian on the failed final drive of the game. No drop was more damning than one from the MVP of the Chicago season, however. Early in the second quarter, Rex Grossman found Devin Hester behind the entire Giant defense but Hester couldn't find the handle and the Bears had to punt the ball away. It was a sure six and helped ruin what was otherwise an excellent day for Grossman.
He was 25-of-46 for 296 yards and a touchdown but if his receivers could have held onto passes it could have been a runaway victory. He spread the ball around, found seams and gaps in the Giant defense and never turned the ball over. Taken with a strong effort from new starting tailback Adrian Peterson (149 total yards) and good work, for three quarters at least, by the Chicago defense, the outcome should never have been in doubt.
For that the Bears have those butterfingered receivers and putrid offensive line play to thank. Grossman was sacked six times with five of the sacks coming on third down. Four of them were in the first half when the Bears were rolling up 214 yards in offense and robbed the team of chances to put the game away. The Giant defense was much better in the second half, 98 yards allowed, and made the most of the chances that the Bear line kept giving them.
As well as they played though and as moot as Manning's fourth quarter would have been without them, the defense will matter about as much as Rosanne Barr to the final reckoning of this game. Manning forced every correspondent to tear up what they'd written over the last few minutes of this game and has, once again, won another chance to win over the hearts and minds of Big Blue faithful. It won't be unconditional support -- there's too much water under the bridge for that -- but he showed he could win with his back against the wall today.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-02-2007 @ 11:16PM
2cts said...
UGH TO ELI!
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12-02-2007 @ 11:25PM
MIKE D said...
Eli just saved his Giant career with that 4th quarter comeback-Had they lost that game he would have been murdered by the press and fans and the pressure would have been what cooked he and the Team
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12-03-2007 @ 12:02AM
jbulger said...
What a tough game to watch! Out of the gate Eli seemed to just pick up where he left off with the Vikings. His accuracy is still suspect -- what the heck was that pass to Plax? No pressure, wide open viewing lane, wide open crossing Burress, and Eli promptly throws it behind him. Even Troy A. had to comment that Eli might be aiming the ball instead of just letting it go. Whatever the issue, Eli's penance should be to break out that target net from training camp and practice putting the ball in the right color pouch from various ranges for a few hours every day. Of course it would be preferable to have live moving targets, but apparently Eli can't seem to get enough practice time with them, so the net will have to do. Maybe Gilbride should put it on the back of his golf cart and drive it around the field while Eli fires it in there... and if Gilbride takes a few off the grill, all the better.
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12-03-2007 @ 12:03AM
JaY said...
eLI HAS GOT TO STOP MAKING THE XCOMMERCIALS, because perjhaps he is believing his own press. He is only making these commercials because he is in NY, is the brother of one of the greatest QB's in history and his father was once the best things to hit New Orleans besides Jazz, Mardi Gras and Jean Laffitte.
Eli is believing his own press, rather than the press of those who see him for what he is--a man who is at QB with the same receiving team long enough to not make Giant fans remember Joe Pisarscik.
Timing between him and Burres can be blamed for Burress' practice time, but what about with Amani Toomer, with Schockley, with others? No, he has not had a strong running game, and Ruben "gets sandwiched" Droughans is not an answer, but there is still no mistake for the fumbles and intereceptions right to someone as if the secondary man was dressed in Giants blues or whites.
I have waited for Maning to mature...I am beginning to think my 20 year bond bought last week will mature sooner.
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12-03-2007 @ 2:19AM
chuck said...
being an ole miss grad, i have been a giants fan for years becase some of the giant's finest were also ole miss grads. i am, naturally, a huge fan of the mannings. however, as others have expressed, i am beginning to doubt eli's leadership and abilities. my evaluation was that after his second year he would be on peyton's track. i'm beginning to believe he will be only an average quarterback.
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12-03-2007 @ 6:48AM
Paul M said...
Hey Folks the Gints with all the heartburn going on out there are still 8-4. In the NFC that ain't bad. Like him or hate him(Manning), it is what it is!!!!!!!!!
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12-03-2007 @ 9:49AM
rob said...
Eli is the worst starting QB in the NFL. I really hope the Giants draft or sign a QB in the offseason or at least give Lorenzen a chance to win the starting job.
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12-03-2007 @ 10:54AM
T200 said...
Lorenzen can't even win the 2nd string job, let alone the starting position. This is his last year in Blue. Look for the Giants to make a move for Chris Simms in the offseason.
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12-03-2007 @ 8:35PM
john marchion said...
WOW.ONLY IN NY WOULD ELI GET SUCH A RASH OF BS FROM HIS OWN FANS AND SPORTSCASTERS.NO WONDER EVERYONE IN NY WANTS TO MOVE TO BOSTON.ELI JUST LOOK BACK IN HISTORY AND YOU WILL SEE THEY BOOED THE BABE,JOE D,MICKEY,ROGER ,AND OH YEA ALEX.IM A BIG GIANTS FAN AND I HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS SO ELI JUST CONSIDER THE SOURCE AND IGNOR THESE TABLOID MORONS. WHEN YOUR DAY COMES AND BELEIVE ME IT WILL.JUST REMEMBER THESE TABLOID EXPERTS WHO HAVE NEVER PICKED UP A FOOTBALL IN THEIR LIVES AND MOVE TO GREENBAY WHERE THEY KNOW HOW TO APPRECIATE HARD WORK AND DEDICATION AND A GUY WHO GIVES 100% EVEN WHEN HIS FANS ARE ONLY FAIR WEATHER FANS. GIVE EM HELL ELI.
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12-03-2007 @ 12:04PM
tobrien28 said...
For 4 years i have staunchly supported Coughlin and Eli. I still think Eli has a shot at being a really good NFL QB, but Coughlin and Gilbride have to go. They are handcuffing him and the offense and causing him to try to do too much.
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12-03-2007 @ 1:00PM
Brian said...
everyone who doubts/hates eli are morons and need to root for another team. eli's a good qb who gives it 100% everytime he's out there. Down 2 scores yesterday with 6 minutes to play, he never gave up. He stepped up his game and got the giants a huge win. what more can you ask for? worst qb in the league?! please, thats ridiculous. he is who i want leading my giants team. i am a fan and a believer that he's the right man for our team. get him a legitimate receiving threat who can explode and actually gain yards after catch and he'll be amazing. is larry fitz still gonna be traded??? if so, make a play for him cause he's the stud eli needs. go eli, keep up the good work. and for everyone calling for chris simms.....your even bigger morons cause he blows and would get torn apart in ny.
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12-04-2007 @ 12:05AM
mdaddy said...
ELI ?? 100% BS THIS GUY IS OVER RATED ONLY THING HE,S GOT IS THE MANNING NAME THATS IT.THE COACHES REALLY NEED TO THINK ABOUT THE QB POSITION CAUSE THIS GUY SUCKS BADLY.
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12-04-2007 @ 12:06AM
mdaddy said...
GET RID OF ELI, GET RID OF ELI
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12-04-2007 @ 1:37AM
T halligan said...
a few years ago there was another q.b who was picked first by the Giants.Everytime he would throw an interseption or fumble you would hear the the end of the world from so called fans.Only after a 4th &17 play to Bobby Johnson on the way to the first Giant Super Bowl did he show what he was capable of.MAYBE Eli leading the Giant back with TWO late game T.D S shows what he is made of.I don't what my Q.B on the sidelines after a bad play ranting and yelling to other Players.I want him talking to the coaches finding what went wrong and how to fix it!
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12-04-2007 @ 9:31AM
Bob said...
Good work Eli .Not bad for a kid with a lot of pressure that most don't have to endure.What is worse than NewYork fans and press?
You are progressing well I expect youll be top rated in the next 2 years.Even better than big mouth brother Peyton.
SMILE KID we that know the game are with you all the way!
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12-04-2007 @ 2:49PM
j1ntsfan said...
The problem with Eli is that we keep thinking and hoping to see him show significant improvement from last year but it doesn't seem to be happening. Take the Miami game, 49 net passing yards. Sure the field was a mess but that's suppose to give the receivers the edge. Then the Dallas game. He plays decent in the first half but then the second half they score 3 points and he has 3 delay of game penalties called on him. He can't see the count down clock? Rookie quarterbacks don't have that happen. Then in the Lion's game, he has a decent game but they still only score 16 points and can't get a first down at the end of the game to keep the Lions from getting the ball back multiple times. The Viking game was probably the worst of his career where he virtually game them 28 points and the game. Finally for three quarters of the Bear's game it looked like a rerun of the Viking game. He played great for the last 10 minutes.While the defense showed up good with the results but Grossman missed at least three deep passes where his receivers were wide open. They were lucky. Last year he made those passes. Yes I know that they had 3 starters out, but they were still lucky the game was still within reach when Eli got hot. I still hope he will develop but we thought that last year at the beginning of the season and again this year but it seems more of the same. I've been a Giant fan since the fifties, I know Simms had some hard times but I don't remember games as bad as the games Eli has had.
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12-04-2007 @ 3:01PM
j1ntsfan said...
I forgot about the Hester drop. So there were really four touchdown passes that could have/should have put the game out of reach. We were very very lucky.
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12-04-2007 @ 9:02PM
Tony Vasquez said...
Eli is the most overrated QB in the NFL.
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12-05-2007 @ 5:14PM
G. Leslie said...
If you watched the game and listen to Troy Aikman, Tom Coughlin almost cost the Giants a win. All he needed was a field goal to win. On the 2 yd line he elected to run it in, instead of taking a knee and making the Bears use their time-out. If he took another knee, the Giants could have run the clock down to under 15 sec. They would have basically an extra point kick for the field goal and would have gone ahead by 1. 17-16. Instead Coughlin runs it in with over 110 sec to play,plus a Bears timeout. As you saw, the Bears drove down the field an could have score with a little luck. Aikman was right when he proposed taking a knee. Coughlin needs to keep his head in the game. If a sportcaster can analyze, why in the hell can't the Giants coaches come up with it. Tiki was right about leaving. Replace Coughlin next year and let the players loose. The Giants are a good team. Better than the product you see.
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12-06-2007 @ 12:09AM
John Cavanaugh said...
Eli's basic problem is accuracy and that's a killer.He makes some mistakes but on the whole in other respects he doe a good job at quarterback.It's true that better receivers would help and its also true that his accuracy has improved somewhat over last year.However this problem will continue to limit him.He will never be an elite quarterback.He may be able to stick around as a journeyman if his lack of success doesn't eventually undermine his confidence.The Giants can't go deep into the playoffs with him. They need to find another quarteback for next year.
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