Comments: Eli Manning Year In Review

Earlier this off season, Sean did a fantastic job breaking down Eli Mannings 2010 season. Some of the comments/feedback have been excellent and deserves some more attention.

As it should be, the quarterback is the most important player on the field and usually takes the blame/glory when things go wrong/right. So the question of whether Eli Manning is elite is a great question we often bring up here at GMENHQ.  Considering the Giants collapse at the end of the 2010, we find ourselves circling this question once again.

fjlnyg said of the matter:

"Eli? Eli-te? No way. Elite should be reserved for the top 4 or 5 QB’s in the league. I am an Eli fan but realistically, when Eli has all of his weapons (O Line, RB’s and WR’s), he is very good (see 2nd Philly game). When he doesn’t, he is very mediocre (see Packer game). That is certainly does not put Eli in Eli-te status."

It’s true Eli did not have his favorite weapons around him and appeared to falter down the stretch, but Sean rebutted that’s true of any QB who loses their best players. Considering the offensive line injuries, receivers injuries, etc I think Eli did an OK job finding a way to play.  Like any Giants fan, I would have preferred the Giants win the Eagles game and make the playoffs, but it didn’t turn out that way.  Is that all on Eli?

I found planetguy’s take quite interesting because he brings Aaron Rodgers and the Packer defense into the mix as a great comparison:

"Compare Eli in the last Eagles game to the new media favorite Aaron Rogers. His offense got 31 points, AR, 21. He scored 7 points in the second half just like AR. And when the Packers just needed to run out the clock in the last two minutes, AR failed, leaving the Eagles with a chance to win the game. Why didn’t they? Because the Packers D and ST stepped up. The Giants never did. Eli is a top QB."

Aaron Rodgers deserves his credit in my opinion, he basically played flawlessly during his post season run that really started with the Giants.  He was incredible in the Super Bowl, as we went over earlier in the week.  But since Rodgers gave credit to his defense first and foremost in his Super Bowl MVP speech, this topic deserves another look.

The point is that the Giants offense deserves some blame, but not all as planetguy is rightly saying here.  Most importantly, the defense for the Giants let the game slip through their hands… when the Giants score 31 points they should win that game, end of story. Missing tackles, letting the Eagles score at will in the fourth quarter — that’s the issue, not Manning.  While the offense is certainly to blame for losing all momentum by trying to run out the clock after their final TD of the game in the 3rd quarter against the Eagles (something they all too often do and continued to do through the end of the season really with nothing to lose against the Redskins) that loss really comes down on the defense rolling over when it mattered most.  Great point here especially when you compare how the Packers responded in the playoffs defensively.

So in hind sight — considering the fact that the offense did it’s job when it mattered most while the defense and special teams collapsed (the Eagles game), and considering they simply were outplayed at every level by a completely dominant team that went on to win the Super Bowl (the Packers), we can deduce that Eli has some things to work on this off season but in no way is it clear that he is the biggest liability on the team.

To which, JD most recently said:

"The giants need to get rid of Eli Manning!!!!!!"

Sigh…. clear as mud to some I guess.  In any case, thank you for your constructive comments and feedback — it makes the site that much more interesting and we’ll need to band together as we potentially face a very long off season without football.  We’ll know more in a month, but for now — stay blue.