November 15, 2007
Manning Critics Turn Up the Volume
By JOHN BRANCH
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Nov. 14 — First, his brother. Then Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger. Now Tony Romo.
A loss was all it took — all it ever takes, really — for criticism to be heaped on Eli Manning, and for comparisons to other quarterbacks to be made again.
But this heaping might be bigger than ever, and it is mixed with a refreshed sense of doom and an odd sense of timing. The Giants are 6-3 and have won six of seven games heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Lions (6-3) at Detroit.
Coach Tom Coughlin noticed the storm of negativity brewing outside Giants Stadium. Leery of the impact on Manning, he spoke to him about it on Tuesday, normally a day off for players.
“We know the environment that we are in here and, obviously, you would like it to be different, but it is not,” said Coughlin, who was a primary target of scorn last season but has escaped such scathing analysis this year. “So the only way that we know to do anything about it is the next game.”
Until then, Manning is widely being assessed as little more than an adequate quarterback, and a symbol of the team’s current role as a second-tier contender.
Manning played decently in Sunday’s 31-20 loss to the Cowboys. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown. He was also intercepted twice, once when his hand was hit as he threw and on a prayer lofted on the game’s last play.
But his bland performance paled in comparison to Romo’s four touchdown passes for the Cowboys and the familiar enthusiasm that accented his plays.
Columnists, talk-show hosts and bulletin-board forums on the Web used Romo and the loss as a jumping-off point to dissect Manning’s play and his perceived personality flaws.
“Whatever ‘It’ Is, Eli Is Without It,” read a headline over a column in The Record of Hackensack, N.J. A pair of Newsday reviews were topped with “Unfortunately, Eli’s as Good as He’s Going to Get,” and “Eli’s O.K. — That’s the Giants’ Problem.”
More telling was the vitriol from fans, using the mouthpieces of the Web and talk radio. Long ago, they seemed to give up on the hope that Manning would become a facsimile of his brother Peyton, the Colts’ quarterback.
But almost instantly after Sunday’s game, a long-simmering debate was reignited — whether the Giants erred in trading for Manning in 2004, or whether the team would have been better off with San Diego’s Rivers or Pittsburgh’s Roethlisberger, who were chosen close behind him in the first round.
And, now, Romo — an undrafted player coolly leading a division rival — might provide the most stinging comparison to Manning.
Manning has been down this road before and tends to greet criticism — and questions about the criticism — with a what-can-you-do? shrug and a slight grin.
“You just kind of learn to accept it,” he said. “It happens after a loss sometimes. You never know when it’s going to happen or what’s going to cause it, or what strikes it up, but it’s out there, and you can’t let it affect your personality or the way you are in the locker room or your approach.
“You’ve got to stay the same and have a good attitude about everything and show everybody that it doesn’t bother you, it doesn’t affect you, and you’re still going to go out there and practice hard and perform hard.”
His easy way has a tendency to make problems seem easier, but it might be backfiring now. Manning will never be a fiery leader, but he did not need to be if his play provided the talking. Now his growth curve has flattened, and he is having a season that is not appreciably different than the one before it, or the one before that. His key statistics — completion percentage, yards, touchdowns and interceptions — all fall in the category of average.
Average is not what the Giants hoped to have from Manning in his fourth season.
It is somewhat telling that while Coughlin acknowledged the criticism that Manning receives, he did not defend his play. The offensive coordinator, Kevin Gilbride, has been among those in the organization who has said that Manning was expected to be better.
Their jobs with the Giants beyond this season could depend largely on Manning’s ability to carry the team into the playoffs. But beyond that, there is a sense that the organization still believes in Manning, but patience is being whittled, almost imperceptibly, week by week.
“I’m not the one to blame for a loss,” Manning said on Monday when asked about the growing criticism. “You are going to lose games. That’s part of football. It’s just about learning from the mistakes, seeing what you are doing well and going into the next week with a good attitude that if you win that one, you are back in a good spot and everything will be fine again.”
Sunday cannot come quickly enough. Another big game looms, and a new round of analysis waits. Manning will be recast again, for better or worse.
EXTRA POINTS
Linebacker Antonio Pierce missed practice with a concussion. He complained of headaches Monday, Tom Coughlin said. {hellip} Coughlin said that he did not know if receiver Plaxico Burress has reached “a point of diminishing returns” as he sits out practices during the week, then hobbles on his sprained right ankle during games. “There have been circumstances where he has not been able to do some of the things he normally can do,” Coughlin said. But any decision to keep Burress out of a game is separate from the difficulty the Giants have had finding another threat at receiver beyond Burress and Amani Toomer. “He wants to play,” Coughlin said. “He certainly has demonstrated that he can, under most circumstances. And that is the way it is.”
I'm still trying to figure out how this team got schooled by Kyle freaking Orton.