Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 547 A Farce

Let's go back a little bit in time to the end of November last year. The regular season was still in full swing, Thanksgiving had just ended, the league and the teams were ready to enter the final sprint for the playoff spots in December, but a big news came from New York.

New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo announced that Geno Smith will be the starting quarterback for the New York Giants' game against the Oakland Raiders this Sunday.

This means that Eli Manning, the team's flagship who had been the New York Giants' starting quarterback for 210 years, was relegated to the bench, and his record for consecutive regular season appearances in the league was finally set at games.

A heavyweight!
Although Manning's entire career was full of controversy, no one expected that his career would end in such a trifling way, occupying the front pages of major media at a lightning speed.

Speaking of Manning's career, this two-time Super Bowl champion and double Super Bowl MVP quarterback is known as the "Brady Killer" and has always been one of the core figures in the league's controversial vortex.

Is he an elite quarterback? Will he be a Hall of Fame player in the future? How should he be positioned in NFL history?

And so on and so forth.

In the eyes of his supporters, Manning is one of the league's best key players, the natural enemy of the New England Patriots, and a good man who is gentle, humorous and enthusiastic about public welfare off the court.

In the eyes of opponents, Manning Jr. has always been a typical example of being overrated. In the 2013 seasons with the New York Giants, he led the team to the playoffs only six times. Except for the two times when he reached the top, the other four times were all first-round eliminations. Especially in , when the team was in a deteriorating predicament, he still asked for a huge contract, which was disgusting.

however.

No one can deny that Manning has become an important symbol of the New York Giants and even the NFL, and has evolved into a part of American culture.
Once in an NBA game, Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies grabbed a defensive rebound and threw a long pass across the court to find his teammate, completing a dunk.

At that time, the commentator was full of passion and spitting, "Touchdown! Gasol used a long pass to break down the opponent's defense just like Eli Manning!"

The guest commentator on the side did not give face to this metaphor at all, "No, no, no, Eli Manning would never pass the ball like this, this is Drew Brees' masterpiece."

During the next timeout, the two commentators engaged in a heated debate about Eli Manning in the NBA arena. The point is, the audience liked it. Not only did they like it, they also joined in the debate.

It was this Eli Manning who ended his career with the New York Giants in an undignified way, once again sparking a public opinion frenzy.

The entire league overwhelmingly stood on Manning's side, including the players of the New York Giants' next opponent, the Oakland Raiders, who also stood up for Manning; not to mention that all former players and coaches of the New York Giants publicly expressed their disagreement with the decision and condemned it.

Especially after the video of Manning Jr. holding back tears during an interview was made public, the entire social network firmly believed that a hero who had played for the team for 14 years and became an idol in this city should not be treated like this.

Of course, discordant voices have always existed. Bart, who is "within the league", not only dislikes Levi, but is also dissatisfied with Manning Jr. He directly brought out Manning Jr.'s performance data, which was the worst among all the starting quarterbacks in the league in the 2013 season, with a look of disdain on his face, and firmly believed that Manning Jr. should have been kicked out of the team four seasons ago.

This time, Bart received a lot of support.

"The Giants don't owe Eli anything. They have the right to make decisions that benefit themselves and don't need to consider the feelings of the other party."

“I never looked at him as a Hall of Fame player.”

Although some people have refuted that since the 2013 season, the New York Giants' offensive line has been at the bottom of the league, and traditional pocket quarterbacks like Manning Jr. have tried their best to save the team but are alone; but these complaints refuse to agree and always stick to their own views.

However, these voices of gloating are ultimately a minority, and mainstream public opinion is completely on Manning's side.

reason?

It is complex and not complex. First, the characters.

Manning Jr. was pressed on the bench, so who is his replacement?
Keno Smith, with a total of 28 touchdowns, 36 interceptions, and 17 fumbles in his career, has long been proven to be one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.

Moreover, his contract with the New York Giants expires at the end of the season, and he will not be the future of the New York Giants.

So, where is the future?

Davis-Webb, who was selected by the New York Giants in the third round of this year's draft, has arm strength but lacks passing accuracy and defensive reading ability, and obviously has a lot of room for growth.

The point is that the quarterback who replaced Manning Jr. was not rookie Webber.

In "Inside the League", Lawson gave professional advice: If the New York Giants want to cultivate Webber, the correct rotation time should be the seventh week of the regular season.

At that time, the New York Giants had one win and six losses, and their playoff hopes were only 0.5%. If they had determined at that time that Manning Jr. was not the future of the team, they should have prepared to let Webber play, instead of dragging it out to the current situation. Such an action is more like a child's temper.

This also involves the second point.

The second is timing.

Regardless of whether Lawson's opinion is correct, look at the timing of the New York Giants' choice:

There are only five games left in the regular season, with a record of two wins and nine losses. Hopes for the playoffs have been completely extinguished. The next step is to digest the schedule and look at the final draft pick. At this moment, removing Manning Jr. and using Geno Smith is a complete and utter failure.

Not only did they give up, but the New York Giants did not give Manning Jr. a chance to say goodbye, nor did they give the fans a chance to witness Manning Jr.'s appearance at home for the last time. This was equivalent to turning off all the lights on Manning Jr.'s farewell stage, not even giving the 14-year veteran a chance to take a bow.

On an emotional level, this is indeed disrespectful and even a shame to Manning Jr.

Perhaps whether Manning Jr. can enter the Hall of Fame is still a controversy, but as he has played 210 consecutive games for the team and has not missed any regular season games in years, Manning Jr. deserves a stage to bid farewell to New York.

It’s no wonder that everyone is standing on Manning’s side.

What's even funnier is that at the end of the season, the New York Giants fired head coach McAdoo. After losing all their reputation, they were left with a mess.

It was for this reason that when John Mara met Levi at Madison Square Garden, Donald thought it was a strategic meeting. From any perspective, the New York Giants would have to make great efforts to salvage this public relations disaster, so the big boss took direct action.

But now it seems that the big boss is seeking more than that.

Public relations is one aspect.

Strategy, on the other hand.

They were probably looking for their quarterback successor long before Mara and Levi met, and choosing Alex Smith was undoubtedly a stroke of genius.

(End of this chapter)