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TAMPA, Fla. – The first observation of Eli Manning on the field Sunday was held 58 minutes before the kickoff.
The most valuable Super Bowl player on two occasions turned the NFL's highest-paid quarterback into the Raymond James stadium visitors' locker room, while the new starter quarterback, Daniel Jones, bent the giants back , wide receivers and tight ends during individual exercises. .
Shifts are usually part of these first exercises, but this scene was one of the first indications that Manning was not going to cloud Jones's first start.
When the full team met later for the warm-ups, Manning took shots of the center of the second team, Spencer Pulley, kept his normal place in the front row of the straight, spent passes to weapons Known, Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, remained on the sidelines while the other captains went to the midfield for the draw.
As Jones ran on the field at 4:14 pm. for the Giants' first offensive series – who were already following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but on the verge of being the best start of their career ever for a rookie quarterback in a 32-31 victory – Manning was holding hands on hips, wearing a baseball cap his head and an earpiece with a thread running through him.
"He was very involved in a way that I expected from a replacement," said coach Pat Shurmur. "Listen, we were all here to support Daniel, trying to give him the right games, and the people on the side trying to give him good advice, it was actually a very good situation for Daniel.
"Can you imagine being in your infancy and sitting next to a guy who's been doing it for over 15 years and doing it at a very high level? It had to be very reassuring for Dan.
It was only the second time in the last 234 games of the Giants that Manning filled his shoes instead of playing and playing almost anytime.
But should that have happened sooner? The Giants started with a 0-2 record for the sixth time in seven seasons before Shurmur made the change. While the defense played so badly against the Dallas Cowboys in the first week that nothing would have made a difference, the loss to the Buffalo Bills in the second week could have been changed.
We'll never know because Shurmur has publicly committed to making Manning his starting quarterback ahead of Jones' dazzling pre-season and it would have been hard to go back before the first game. Regrets not to create an open competition during the training camp?
"No, not at all," said Shurmur, "I feel like I did what I thought was best, at least in this scenario it worked well for Daniel." first week. "
Manning still managed to produce a viral moment at 16:51. when he approached Jones, tapped him on the shoulder and extended his fist to be congratulated after Jones rushed for a seven-yard touchdown with less than 10 minutes left in the second quarter (mobile app users click here to see the video).
"He encouraged me to persevere and keep fighting," Jones said. "There were certainly some things that he would schematize and that he would help me, so (I am) very grateful for that."
When the Giants 'offense was on the field, Manning was standing at one end of the sideline, off the bench, with another resonance table of nearby Giants' staff. When the defense was on the ground, he spoke with Jones and the offensive coordinator, Mike Shula, and attended the review of the screens.
But at the end of the game, as before, Manning avoided the spotlight. The media did not see him in the locker room after the payback period that was prescribed by the NFL for 15 minutes after the match.
Meanwhile, Jones received a match point, broke the locker room coffin, took Manning's place on the podium in the interview room, returned to the locker room for a face-to-face interview with a Duke reporter University athletics and finally walked. far from answering questions about his astonishing cursed curse.
The last time they were seen together in front of the camera, it was during an emotional hug on the field after the match, which might as well have included a torch pass.
"I can not thank him enough for his support throughout the week and the match," Jones said. "I am really grateful."
Ryan Dunleavy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find our cover of giants on Facebook.
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