New York Giants QB Eli Manning One Of The Worst Against The Blitz In 2015
ESPN compiled a list of the five best and worst quarterbacks against the blitz in 2015 and New York Giants’ Eli Manning found himself in some undesirable company.
Alongside Joe Flacco, Sam Bradford, Nick Foles and Colin Kaepernick, Manning was one of the five worst under pressure last season. Here’s ESPN’s writeup:
“No quarterback was blitzed less frequently last season. Opponents sent pressure at Manning on just 16.3 percent of his dropbacks, but on those occasions, he performed poorly. Manning’s 67.7 passer rating against the blitz was ahead of only Foles and Bradford. In the past three years, Manning’s passer rating against the blitz (82.0) ranks in the bottom five league-wide.”
It’s somewhat surprising to see Manning on any list with the word “stunk” in the title after his performance last season. Eli completed 62.6 percent of his passes and had a very favorable TD-INT ratio. Despite New York’s record, Manning had statistically one of the best seasons of his career.
Ben McAdoo’s offensive style, a lot of three-step drops and quick horizontal passes, would seem to facilitate short completions and a low number of sacks. Odell Beckham Jr. as a quarterback’s primary target would seem to make his rating only go up.
Then again, the Giants offensive line was ranked 20th overall by Pro Football Focus and 24th against the pass. Then-rookie Ereck Flowers was thrust into action as a left tackle when Will Beatty was lost for the season. Marshall Newhouse was signed as a backup and ended up starting the majority of the season at right tackle.
Also, with defenses keyed onto OBJ, a consistent number two receiver would boost those numbers and thrive in the offense. Rueben Randle wasn’t a viable option and clearly never got on the same page as Manning in 2015.
Looking forward to 2016, Randle is gone and, if all goes as planned, Manning should have Victor Cruz and rookie Sterling Shepard as options opposite Beckham who can turn short-yardage passes into big gains.
The offensive line, however, remains the same. While Flowers is bound to show improvement in his sophomore season, the right side of the line has only degraded. Beatty and Geoff Schwartz have been released and Newhouse and John Jerry are penciled in as Week 1 starters.
The saving grace from 2015 is that Manning was barely blitzed and it helped mask his ineptitude in that phase of the game. Either teams felt they could get pressure just rushing their front four or they feared the deep threat in OBJ. Opposing game plans should be the same in 2016 as the Giants have only ramped up their offensive weaponry.