Less than 24 hours after being thrown under the bus by his head coach following a second consecutive poor outing, Eli Manning has responded. And we must say, the New York Giants starting quarterback is taking it like a man.
“You lose games, you only score 10 points, you deserve some criticism,” Manning said, via NorthJersey.com. “Hey, for me, I know you can control what you can control. I can make some plays, I can do some things better, for sure … Coach McAdoo knows I can handle it. It’s part of playing quarterback. You’ve gotta be tough and you’ve gotta take criticism, take coaching, learn from it, get better from it, and you can’t be sensitive in this field. You’re a quarterback in the NFL, there’s gonna be tough days, there’s gonna be tough times, you’ve gotta be able to handle the fire on game day and afterward, that’s just part of the deal.”
This is pretty classic Eli Manning. Whether you appreciate his overall body of work or think he’s overrated, this type of response has a lot to do with his ability to be a franchise quarterback in the Big Apple for 13-plus seasons. Manning isn’t going to get riled up. Whether his coach was right or wrong, Manning is going to be a professional about his job and accept the responsibility that comes with being the face of a franchise.
Has Manning been great this year? No. He’s clearly aging, and his presence in the pocket isn’t a boon to the Giants right now as they feature one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. But clearly, based on that awful protection up front, the lack of a running game and blatant drops by his receivers, Manning isn’t the only person who deserves criticism.
The Giants are a bad team in 2017. And until that changes, fair or not, Manning will be heavily criticized. At least we know he can take it.