It's a heartbreaking day for Eli Manning



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Phil Simms, the giant of the Giants, tells what Eli Manning must feel now that he has been replaced by Daniel Jones. As Steve Serby says:

I thought of Eli Manning today, just knowing what he's living, his family and himself. I know it's very difficult.

It's a terrible day for him. For me, it happened during a off season. For Eli, this happens during the season. So he will be on the bench all through the practice, but he will also have to be ready to play and not to fall – just because you know how NFL football is, with what we've seen the last weekend (injuries to Ben Roethlisberger and Drew Brees). There is still a good chance that he will play again this year, so he will have to stay ready.

It will be very hard emotionally for him, and rightly so, but I think he's in the league long enough to know that you never know. It could be this week.

I can understand what Eli lives – all players in the league can do it. Not just quarterbacks, ex-giants or giants. I know coaches who are 70 years old and say, "Why are you doing it again?" And they all say the same thing: "Dude, nothing is worth a race on a lot on a Sunday." You can not Get enough of those moments.

This is Peyton Manning, with all his success and his extraordinary career. Do you think that he wanted to leave? Why one of us? You go away because of an injury when you know you can not compete. Being in Eli's place makes it more difficult because he is still physically healthy, thinks and knows he can still play.

Phil Simms and Eli Manning
Phil Simms and Eli ManningGetty Images; Paul J Bereswill

I was going to Showtime to record "Inside the NFL" and I heard the news on the radio. Even after Pat Shurmur opened the door for a change on Monday, I still thought Eli would start facing Tampa Bay. This is not where you want to make your first start against Todd Bowles' defense. That took me by surprise. We can find a hundred reasons why they could have and we could find as many of them why they probably should have kept Eli here too. There is no perfect time.

I had no idea when Dan Reeves called me to his office. I think I was just out of the field with a bunch of guys and someone said, "Dan Reeves wants to see you." The coach has always been involved in charity work, I remember having thought: "He probably wants me to ride and sign footballs for charity. "

As soon as I entered, I could see that he was not looking me in the eyes. We sit down, he says: "Phil, I have bad news. We will let you go today. "I just said," Really? "

We talked for a few minutes and it was a great conversation with Dan. We had only one year together, but it was a really rewarding year. I really enjoyed our player-coach relationship. We have almost exceeded our goals.

I do not remember if he said it was about the salary cap or anything like that. I did not discuss … there was nothing to say.

When I got home by car, it was really strange to think that "Wow, I'm not going to play football for the Giants this year," it really was. Of course, I took it for granted and it happened so fast that it was hard to have a lot of emotions because it was so fast.

I just wanted to play the professional, and then the Giants were named. Once I arrived here and started playing and being here, I realized that being a quarter of the New York Giants was really special. It's my life and my family's, just because it's New York and it's the Giants, and being part of it was … even when I played, I knew it was something special.

What I did that night at the Super Bowl XXI happily lived again and again. I sometimes laugh that Joe Namath and myself were shooting more than one game in the sport, you know? I do not remember much, but it would be fun to sit down one day and watch the movie and say, "Wow! Why could not I have more days like this? "

Of course, there were difficult moments. I asked Bill Parcells to exchange after he chose Scott Brunner as a starter in 1983, but the situation quickly faded. Hey, nobody ever listens to me like they do in life, so I'm glad they did not listen to me that day.

I never went to bed and said, "Oh, why did they boo?" I can not believe they boared me. I never, even after being recruited, before arriving in New York, before training, first of all, it never crossed my mind, it never bothered me. And to this day, it still does not bother me.

What career Eli had. So many achievements, never missing a match, these are memories he will keep forever, as I have learned over time and I appreciate them more and more as I get older.

In addition to the Super Bowl, I think of him who beat the Cowboys on the road in playoffs, and to Brett Favre in the cold at Green Bay, and the shots he took as a quarter to go. old and who beat the 49ers at the 2011 NFC Championship game in San Francisco. When he was lucky enough to win the match in those big games, he did it.

He is either the greatest actor in the world, or just his mentality, just to keep doing what he does every day. He has never been moved about it. Winner, loser, he just continued to train and play. That's pretty amazing in itself, no matter what market you're in, to answer questions and not have a moment when you just complain or complain about the issue. He never did. It has been well taught, but it is also what it is. I think a lot of professional athletes, the quarterback, myself, probably if you could do it again, I would try to imitate that more than any other way. Do not be too emotional, watch what you say, do it every day, prepare your plan, do it and be satisfied, it's a great way to become a professional athlete.

Daniel Jones managed everything beautifully. He showed he was very precise with football and he could get rid of it. Very good decision maker.

It will be interesting to see as a fan how they use it and see if I see a big difference in the way they handle the blame and play with him there than they did with Eli. Jones will not recognize the game he will play this weekend compared to what he did in the pre-season. It's bigger, faster, rougher, more complicated.

I do not know if I advise him. It's football, and I can just promise him this, we all know it's going to be fun, it's going to be tough, there's going to be a terrible adversity.

But the good times are worth it.

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