New York Giants: 3 burning questions after miserable loss to Eagles

How much time does quarterback Eli Manning have left?

No matter what the New York Giants do from here on out, with every loss or bad team performance—and make no mistake, Thursday’s effort was a complete team failure—Manning will be scrutinized.

For a player who has helped bring two Super Bowl victories to New York in the past 15 seasons, the rest of No. 10’s career will likely be clouded by commentary from pundits eager to see Manning on the bench as soon as possible and his replacement under center no matter who that quarterback is.

So is the nature of the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately mentality in New York.

Manning’s Week 5 performance in Carolina was vintage. Despite two interceptions, Eli made play after play to keep the Giants in the game. He orchestrated what should have been a fourth-quarter game-winning drive in just over a minute, going a perfect 4-for-4 for 75 yards to put his team ahead.

But against the Eagles, the offense was anemic as Manning went 24-for-43 for just 281 yards with one interception and no touchdowns. He went back to checking the ball down averaging an irrelevant 6.53 yards per pass attempt and took four sacks and 10 hits in the process.

Despite a failure to get anything positive going, head coach Pat Shurmur remains confident in his veteran.

But as we have seen last season with former coach Ben McAdoo when his job was on the line and the team was well out of contention, Manning found the bench.

Unlike McAdoo, who handled the situation poorly and inexplicably chose Geno Smith over then-rookie and former Giant Davis Webb, Shurmur would likely turn to this year’s fourth-rounder out of Richmond, Kyle Lauletta.

Lauletta did not play well throughout the preseason, and his known lack of arm strength would undoubtedly cause problems for an offense struggling to get vertical.

It’s way too early for the Giants to give up on Manning, and he is not wholly responsible for the team’s failures, but the pressure is mounting in New York. With 10 games left, Shurmur’s seat could grow warmer and warmer to the point he might not have a choice but to make a change. As far as a financial standpoint, the front office would save $17 million in cap space by releasing the soon-to-be 38-year-old after the season. Manning is set to account for a $23.2 million cap hit in 2019, per Spotrac.

After everything Eli has done for New York, he is the last person in the NFL who deserves such a fate, but logically and all emotions removed, his situation is getting dire by the week. The only solution is winning.

Easier said than done.