ProFootballTalk- The Giants offense has been pitiful through the first two weeks of the regular season and much of the blame has been placed at the feet of the offensive line.
Manning isn’t willing to join in the chorus pointing the finger at the line for holding the unit back, however. “Combination of stuff,” Manning said, via the New York Post. “There was nothing that we didn’t have an answer for. Enough things might mess up a little bit, it’s a combination of everybody, it’s not just the offensive line. When sacks are happening obviously the offensive line gets blamed most of the time but that’s not necessarily the case. You got running backs, you got quarterbacks, you got receivers, everybody plays a part in that.” ---------- Talk about a rock and a hard place. It was either lay the entirety of the blame at the slow, heavy, and two left feet of the group who, despite being piss poor in protecting him, probably wouldn't take kindly to being publicly scrutinized, or accept some of the blame himself. I don't often pity someone whose insanely average existence has been made Hall Of Fame worthy by the rabbits he's pulled out of hat in early February, but it tough to hear that answer after watching these videos and not feel a wee bit bad for Eli Manning...
Again, I don't think he has earned nearly as much benefit of the doubt as Giants fans like to give him throughout his otherwise underwhelming career, but he's definitely earned the right to suck on his own accord. All those high-priced assets his organization has continuously used to surround him with more skill position players while arrogantly ignoring both their offensive line and their future? He's earned the opportunity to stand upright and breathe through his mouth while under and/or over throwing it to the person covering them. The guy is far from irreplaceable, which is why people much smarter than I are already wondering why the Giants didn't take advantage of the golden opportunity to start the process of replacing him, but I can't justifiably front on his performance when he's spending the majority of the time on his back during it. Take a second to read into that uncomfortable answer above and it becomes painfully obvious that Eli Manning is just trying to spread around the blame, like he's been unable to spread around the ball, so that he doesn't hurt the feelings of those that are going to get him carried off the field holding up his thumb before they get carried off the field holding up his hat. It's not just that someone forgot to water Ereck Flowers. The entire Giants offensive line, as it has been for years now, is an abomination of such epic proportions that no amount of high-priced playmakers can adequately cover for it. As much as I think that Saquon Barkley was the best talent in the draft and that they had no choice but to pay Odell Beckham, the reasons why they maybe shouldn't have done both those things are being made clear now in a way that makes 19 million a year and the 2nd overall pick seem like too large a price for wasted talents. Eli Manning probably could devalued them on his own, but it would be foolish to pretend like he's had the chance to thus far.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2020
|