Could it really be this simple with Eli?

[Bill Swerski]

Eli should go be a dentist. Or make toys...whatever.

 

[PantherDave]

Why would it matter if Rivers went to the SB? Nobody goes to the SB because of one man. Nobody goes because they're the best team in the league on one side of the ball, "O" or "D". The "Team" gets there period. All facets of the game have to come together. Rivers has shown enough with his "team" for them to almost get there so far, good for him. The Giants weren't going with anyone else QBing, they just weren't good enough on either side of the ball this year, st's or coaching. Eli had some very good games and some bad ones. I think he'll turn out to be a good QB.

\

 

uhhhh, we could start with and end with the NYG fan base, which, I imagine sure as hell let Eli know about and often.

[Front Row]

I don't think its an "elitist" think with Eli. If anything, I think its the opposite.

 

When I watch him, its almost like he doesn't really want to be playing football. But since he was born, everyone's been telling him he's supposed to be a great quarterback. So he just goes through the motions. He obviously has a great deal of natural ability, but he seems disinterested.

 

He reminds me of Hermie the elf in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer who wanted to be a dentist but everyone told him he had to make toys because he was an elf. Eli should go be a dentist. Or make toys...whatever. He just doesn't look like he wants to be a professional football player.

 

 

squash pro perhaps ?

[Vet]

squash pro perhaps ?

 

 

 

This is exactly what I was trying to say - but it's funnier than how I put it.

[Snoil]

Hmm, interesting. P Rivers holds out forever, so long he can't even try to push D Brees for playing time. This at a time when SD clearly disliked Brees. Brees turns out not to suck and he can't even pressure the coaches for playing time year two either. Brees gets discarded because they can't spend enough to keep Brees, in part since Rivers has the longer contract, so job is Rivers' by default. Brees goes on to have a ginormous season once free of Marty-ball. Rivers mainly hands-off while LT, the D, and the o-line dominate games. Yep, just like BEN won the Super Bowl last year, RIVERS will win the Super Bowl this year.

 

 

Now without the sarcasm...I'm not ready to crown Rivers, Ben, or Eli the king of that QB draft just yet. And Eli has been asked to make more of a difference personally than the other two so I'm not sold on him being a bust while the other two guys are superstars. I think the Steelers are at least as good with Batch as Ben, and I think SD would be better with Brees than Rivers. As far as Manning goes, are the Giants any worse than they were with former-league-MVP Warner at the helm? Hell I hope Manning gets cut or run out of town next year! My team could use a promising young arm. And a RB, 4/5's of an O-line, a cornerback, a WR, a coupe LB's but I digress.

 

Now much also has been made of the fact that many were enamored of him solely for his name. Look at his college tapes and numbers, he'd have gone very high if his name was Smith or Jones. Truth is, Eli's bashers are the ones obsessed with the name, not those who think he may well turn out to be a solid pro. If all his detractors were interested in was naysaying underperforming, high contract QB's we'd be seeing a lot more Culpepper-bashing than Eli-bashing. Heck the NYG defense makes a play or two last Sunday and at least the Giants get to OT. But his name is Manning and until he throws for 4200 yds, 38 td's vs 8 int's and at least wins the NFC championship game he's a 'bust', right? Especially since his name is Manning.

 

I don't have either Manning in any of my FFL's, I'm not a Giants fan nor a Giants hater (though I'm kind of anti-NY sports teams in general), don't particularly like or dislike the Chargers or Steelers either, but I do like the NFL and the Eli-sux thing is overblown to the point of silliness already. And the "We Got Rivers!" cheers are silly at this point. Rivers may well turn out to be a fine QB, but the Chargers could have had the same record with Weinke, Brad Johnson, or even their own Volek taking snaps with LT and all the other players doing what they did this particular season. And kudos to Rivers for staying out of their way mostly. It's all that they asked him to do and he did it. Kinda like Big Ben last year. O and no, I don't have Eli high on my list of QB's-to-get next draft day, either. Mainly just wanted to point out that the Eli-sux thing is way too flavor-of-the-week.

 

 

PS- When all is said and done, T Barber's best season will look awfully plain compared to LT2's fifth best season. Tiki is/was a darn good player and had a very good career. LT2 is 2 cuts above that and has been inserted into the Sanders/Brown/Payton/E Smith arguments about best all-time already.

Edited January 11, 2007 by Snoil

[alexgaddis]

No, not that easy...

 

The Good: Smart, instinctive signal caller and the next great quarterback from the Manning household. Fundamentally sound; sets up with solid footwork, quick dropping into the pocket and excellent ball placement, holding it shoulder high. Sells his play action passes, patient and scans the field, going through receiver progressions and finding the open wide out. Throws with an over the top delivery, nicely times his outs as the pass arrives when receivers are leaving their breaks or smartly places his throws out in front of the target, leading them down the field or on crossing patterns and letting them run to the ball. Takes what the defense gives him and quickly goes to the safe underneath target if nothing else is available. Stands strong in the pocket, takes a hit in order to get the pass off or scrambles outside the pocket, making positive plays on the move. Puts touch on the pass when required, also displaying zip on the short/intermediate throws.

[rebdog]

I know this an "Eli Manning" post, but as for the comments on Rivers, he's QB'd his team to a 14 & 2 record. Only losses on the road, last second in KC and Baltimore.

Regardless of who he's surrounded by, no one could ask for more. When San Diego has had to rely on him he's gotten it done. Check the end of the Seattle game, or the comeback vs. the Bengals. He had 22 TD passes and they didn't even take the restraints off his arm until week #4.

As a Charger fan, I can't really feel sorry for Eli. I can't sympathize with guys like him, or Vince Carter, or Steve Francis, or Tracy McGrady (man there's a lot of selfish players in the NBA) who want to dictate where they play when they should just be grateful to earn the kind of money they are and should treat the game with respect.

The difference I see in the two is leadership and accuracy. Rivers is much more vocal and demonstrative. Eli is completely lacking in leadership. If Vincent Jackson threw up his hands after every pass that didn't go his way like Burress does, Rivers would be in his face.

[kingfish247]

All his natural born life he's most likely been told how good he is, how good his lineage is, who will hold the most NFL records in the end etc..etc..

 

The last time I checked the NFL was the "show me" league where your actual playing abiltity(well ok, but he's the most exciting player in the NFL,now back to Eli) was the barometer? Maybe, just maybe, this kid is simply not as good as advertised, because the look on his face to me say's, "But, but, I'm suppose to be good-heck I'm suppose to be elite." The kid seems to fuggin daydream on the sideline-who knows, he may shock the world next season. Just imagine the backlash if Rivers is QBing in the Super Bowl.

 

while I think it's too soon to judge what should concern Eli and his coaching staff is his mechanics.

 

offbalance, off his back foot and sometimes not even looking at his target and that's not exclusive to when he's facing heavy pressure.

 

he reminds me a bit like Delhomme when he throws. Delhomme gets lucky with a lot of his throws and they look pretty but he likes to just heave ho the ball into double/triple coverage on a regular basis. Eli is lucky he has Plexiglass b/c he's just big enough to come down with a lot of those.

[Kid Cid]

while I think it's too soon to judge what should concern Eli and his coaching staff is his mechanics.

 

offbalance, off his back foot and sometimes not even looking at his target and that's not exclusive to when he's facing heavy pressure.

 

he reminds me a bit like Delhomme when he throws. Delhomme gets lucky with a lot of his throws and they look pretty but he likes to just heave ho the ball into double/triple coverage on a regular basis. Eli is lucky he has Plexiglass b/c he's just big enough to come down with a lot of those.

 

Am I the only one that thinks that unless Coughlin goes and a team of coashes that can coach QBs comes in, that Eli's career is going to mirror Bledsoe's?

[kingfish247]

Am I the only one that thinks that unless Coughlin goes and a team of coashes that can coach QBs comes in, that Eli's career is going to mirror Bledsoe's?

 

Coughlin wouldn't have to go if they just brought in new QB coach. Gilbride has a less than stellar track record with QBs and that's being generous.

[PantherDave]

Coughlin wouldn't have to go if they just brought in new QB coach. Gilbride has a less than stellar track record with QBs and that's being generous.

 

 

 

Warren Moon made him look good, and he is still riding that horse.

[Rovers]

I think Eli is fatally flawed. I see all the Giants games being in NY, and Eli lacks the one thing every QB has to have. Natural leadership ability. Forget the mechanics. I see a kid who just doesn't have the command in the huddle, the prescence any good QB has to have to be successful. Guys like Harrington have the same problem. Talent isn't enough for the QB position in the NFL. A strong personality that demands respect from the other players is something I don't think Eli will ever have. His team mates just don't have faith in his ability to lead, to get it done. Just MHO.

[Caveman_Nick]

When Eli was in college, the skinny on him was that he had better physical tools than Peyton, but was not as good with the mental aspects of the game.

 

I think that this is what people are seeing now. The expectations of Eli are that he be as good as Peyton, if not better, because you can't talent but you can teach mental skills.

 

I think that is overstated because it doesn't take into acount raw mental ability. Tom Brady is a great example of that. His mental game was very good as a first year starter, but his physical tools were just above marginal. And he has worked on that relentlessly, so now his physical tools are catching up with his mental tools. I think you could say the same thing about Peyton, although he started light years ahead of Brady in terms of physical tools.

 

Eli need to study his rear end off, or he will never reach the potential of his physical tools. He'll become the next Drew Bledsoe instead of the next Peyton Manning. And that would be a shame. Unfortunately, he looks like he's just a lazy person.

[Caveman_Nick]

I think Eli is fatally flawed. I see all the Giants games being in NY, and Eli lacks the one thing every QB has to have. Natural leadership ability. Forget the mechanics. I see a kid who just doesn't have the command in the huddle, the prescence any good QB has to have to be successful. Guys like Harrington have the same problem. Talent isn't enough for the QB position in the NFL. A strong personality that demands respect from the other players is something I don't think Eli will ever have. His team mates just don't have faith in his ability to lead, to get it done. Just MHO.

 

 

 

He also (at least not from what I have heard) doesn't throw his team mates under the bus like some other Manning brothers we know