Geno Smith weighs on Eli Manning, says everyone owes Ben McAdoo an apology



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Late last season, the New York Giants were struggling. New York was 2-10 and could barely get anything going offensively. The offensive line was dreadful. The pass-catching body was depleted, with Odell Beckham Jr. out for the season. And even when Eli Manning had time to throw and one of his receivers was open, he could not seem to find that player with an on-time and / or on-target throw.

So then-coach Ben McAdoo made a decision to bench Manning. Or rather, he told Manning that he wanted to give him a chance to get his money back. Manning declined, and Geno Smith started the team's next game against the Dallas Cowboys. Smith was just as much of a disaster as Manning, the lost Giants, McAdoo was fired, and Manning was back in the starting lineup again the following week.

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The Giants conducted their coaching and general manager search for this offseason with the idea that Manning would start again. They have passed to a quarterback at No. 2 overall, at least in part, in order to make sure that their position is maintained.

That No. 2 overall pick, train Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, has been spectacular. He's the first player ever with at least 400 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards within the first six games of his career. But it has not really mattered. The Giants' offense is still dreadful and Manning is still struggling badly.

Manning had one of his worst games of the year on Thursday night against the Eagles, and all of these struggles came to a head. Coach Pat Shurmur said after the game that he's not worried about Manning, but do you want to guess who is? Geno Smith!

That's right. Geno thinks everyone owes Ben McAdoo an apology for their flip-outs when McAdoo benched Manning in favor of Smith last year. It's hard to say he's wrong, per se, because Manning clearly did not have much left in the tank then or now. Perhaps McAdoo's benchmarking of Manning would have gone beyond the control of the Giants had not been changed.

We'll never know, but they can not really do this because of the fact that they are not only Alex Tanney and fourth-round rookie Kyle Lauletta. We'll be able to wait until next year – at least – to see a youngster.

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