Eli Manning Is Entertaining
November 26, 2007 - 11:31 pm by Ryan PhillipsSo remember a few weeks ago when all the “experts” were marveling at how Eli Manning had “turned a corner” and was one of the NFL’s elite now? Well, after yesterday’s Grossman-like performance in his team’s 41-17 loss to the Vikings it might be time to rethink that logic. Manning’s New York Giants are a solid team. Sitting at 7-4 and in second place in the NFC East, they would have the top Wild Card slot if the playoffs started today. That said, Ms. Manning isn’t exactly helping the cause.
Yesterday he tied a career high by throwing four interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns and the fourth set up another Minnesota score. He finished the day by completing 21-of-49 passes for 273 yards, 1 touchdown and the aforementioned 4 INTs. That’s a nice little 42.9 completion percentage. Solid work Eli. And for those of you saying “Oh it’s just one bad game lay off of him,” um, no, you’re wrong.
Here’s some proof:
-After his fantastic showing on Sunday, Manning is currently ranked 24th out of 35 passers who qualified in quarterback rating with a stout 75.0.
-He is tied for the NFL lead with 15 interceptions and has just 16 touchdowns.
-He’s 27th in yards per attempt with a pathetic 6.40.
-His completion percentage sits at 58.5 percent, good enough (bad enough?) for 28th in the league behind such fantastic field generals as: Kyle Boller, Jason Campbell, Joey Harrington, J.P. Losman and Damon Huard.
-He has only had two games in which he didn’t throw an interception this season. One was against Detroit in week 10 and the other was in week eight against the winless Miami Dolphins. In the Dolphins game, his passer rating was 44.9 and he only threw for 59 yards. Oh, and he lost a fumble.
So yeah, Eli is doing a great job “progressing” and has really “come a long way” in his fourth year in the league. Especially considering his 75.0 quarterback rating is lower than how he finished during the last two seasons. In 2005 he finished at 75.9 and last year he finished at 77.0.
Yep, it’s amazing how improved he is.
3 Responses to “Eli Manning Is Entertaining”
It has to be hard to be Peyton’s younger brother, and it seems that fans and media will always view him that way. Eli certainly hasn’t lived up to the hype, but maybe the hype wasn’t fair in the first place.
By Kevin Hayward on Nov 27, 2007
Eli is a tease. I’ve said for a long time he will never be as good as Peyton, but he just needs to be good for the Giants to go a long way. He shows flashes, but then melts away. I really believe he panics under duress. Here are some interesting photos — http://bigblueview.com/story/2007/11/26/221918/39
By ETVal on Nov 27, 2007
His “hype” was of his own doing when he and daddy got all pouty and insisted he would never play in San Diego. Only somebody with the arogance to believe they can be an NFL star would pull a stunt like that (see Maurice Clarret).
Therefore, I have no sympathy for him at all. I’ve been looking forward to this since that Draft Day he was traded to NY.
By Mark D on Nov 27, 2007