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New York’s Eli Manning gets sacked by Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post)
Des Bieler
Sports reporter covering national topics, as well as supporting coverage of D.C.-area teams
As the Giants head into their bye week with a 1-7 record, Coach Pat Shurmur told reporters Monday, “We’re looking at all areas to improve.”
Could that improvement possibly be brought about with a change at starting quarterback? Shurmur wasn’t ruling it out, offering what sounded like tepid support for Eli Manning.
Of the likelihood that Manning is still under center when the Giants return to action in Week 10, Shurmur said, “We’ll see. But, yeah, I think Eli is our quarterback.”
“I’ve always been a team player, and do kind of what I’m told,” Manning said. “I expect and want to be the starting quarterback until I’m told differently.”
In his 15th season, Manning is completing a career-high 68.3 percent of his passes, but with a career-low 2.5 touchdown percentage. That has resulted in an offense that has moved the ball at a rate, in terms of yards per game, only slightly below the NFL average but that has had trouble getting into the end zone.
After losing to the Redskins on Sunday, 20-13, the Giants are 28th in points per game at 18.8. Despite the services of a talented supporting cast, including impressive rookie running back Saquon Barkley and pass-catchers Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard and Evan Engram, Manning has just eight touchdown passes against six interceptions.
In addition, several of those touchdown passes, including on Sunday, have come late in games after the outcomes were essentially decided. Manning has his second-worst QBR (41.8) since 2006, and he has already taken 31 sacks, as many as last year and tied for the second-most in any of his seasons.
The Giants’ leaky offensive line can certainly take its share of the blame for the sack total, but Manning’s glaring lack of mobility is also a major factor, and it might be the area most obviously improved upon by his replacement. If Shurmur does decide to make that move, he would likely turn to rookie Kyle Lauletta, a fourth-round draft pick out of Richmond, with journeyman backup Alex Tanney another possible option.
“I think you always want to make sure, when you replace somebody, you replace him with guys who can do that job,” Shurmur said (via the New York Post). “I think you always consider that, because the team counts on the fact we’re gonna play the best people at all positions.”
New York has already signaled that it’s starting to think more about the future than an increasingly bleak present by trading away two defensive starters, defensive lineman Damon Harrison and cornerback Eli Apple. Benching Manning for Lauletta would jump-start that process, and Shurmur would likely encounter less outcry than his predecessor did for a similar move.
Late last season, with the Giants also struggling, then-head coach Ben McAdoo gave backup quarterback Geno Smith a start, ending Manning’s streak of 210 straight starts. That apparently ended McAdoo’s tenure in New York; he and general manager Jerry Reese were fired soon after, but another year of futility by the Giants may well have altered how they are viewed by many of their fans.
Manning, 37, showed a sense of perspective in a radio interview Monday, saying, “I see the big picture. Hey, you understand when you get to Year 15 and you’re not winning games, you don’t know how many more opportunities you have.’’
Read more from The Post:
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Aaron Rodgers reportedly ‘was hot, and he had a right to be’ after Ty Montgomery gaffe
Arbitrator rules in favor of Redskins in Scot McCloughan’s grievance over firing
‘Forget fantasy and forget Vegas’: Todd Gurley sneers at your laments over his non-TD
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